A Public Reflection for an Interfaith Society
India is a land shaped by many faiths, philosophies, and moral traditions. Religion here is not private; it forms conscience, culture, and public life. Yet history repeatedly shows that when power clothes itself in sacred language, something deeply human is lost. Power begins to demand sacrifice—not symbolic ritual, but real lives.
This is not a critique of religion itself, but a warning about religion captured by power.
Across traditions, we know this truth intuitively: when authority becomes absolute, compassion is reduced; when identity becomes sacred, exclusion becomes justified.
The Sacrificial Pattern of Power
Every society organizes itself around what it is willing to sacrifice. Empires—ancient and modern—promise stability, unity, and greatness. In return, they quietly ask for certain lives to bear the cost: the poor, minorities, dissenters, displaced communities, and those who do not fit the dominant story.
In India, these sacrifices are often hidden in plain sight:
· Economic progress that displaces Adivasi communities
· Social order maintained through caste hierarchy
· National unity secured by silencing uncomfortable voices
· Religious pride that justifies fear or hostility toward others
When power requires suffering to sustain itself, it has crossed a moral line. Across traditions, this is recognized as adharma, injustice, zulm, or a violation of human dignity.
Sacred Symbols and Public Responsibility
Religions give societies symbols of meaning. But when these symbols are turned into instruments of exclusion or domination, faith loses its moral authority.
History—Indian and global—shows that once a nation or ideology is treated as sacred:
· Criticism is framed as betrayal
· Violence is reframed as defense of the holy
· Human beings become means rather than ends
The danger is not devotion, but absolutism.
Ancient wisdom across traditions warns against confusing the Ultimate with the powerful. The Hebrew prophets denounced kings who oppressed the poor in God’s name. Buddhist teaching cautions against attachment to power and identity. Sikh history bears witness to resistance against religious tyranny. Islamic ethics speaks firmly against injustice, even when committed by rulers. Hindu philosophical traditions warn against ego inflated into cosmic authority.
The moral insight is shared: power without humility becomes destructive.
A Christian Contribution to the Conversation
Christian faith enters this interfaith space with a distinctive and unsettling image: a God who is crucified.
For Christians, God is not revealed through domination or triumph, but through suffering love. Jesus is executed by the state not for violence, but for challenging an unjust order. His death exposes how power reacts when confronted by truth—it sacrifices the inconvenient.
This image is not offered as a weapon against others, but as a self-critique and a public witness. A crucified God stands as a permanent reminder that:
· The sacred cannot be defended by killing
· Truth does not need coercion
· The worth of a society is measured by how it treats its weakest members
Christians are therefore bound—by their own faith—to stand against any system that demands human suffering for collective pride or political security.
A Mirror for All Traditions
This reflection is not aimed at one religion, one party, or one ideology. It is a mirror held up to all communities.
Every tradition must ask:
· Whose pain do we ignore to preserve our comfort?
· Whose voices are silenced to maintain unity?
· Whose lives are treated as expendable for a larger cause?
Faith becomes credible in public life not by asserting dominance, but by defending dignity.
Toward a Shared Moral Future
India’s strength has never been uniformity, but moral plurality held together by ethical restraint. Our future depends not on whose symbol dominates the public square, but on whether compassion, justice, and humility govern our common life.
In times of fear and polarization, the most urgent public question is not, “Who is right?” but:
Who is being sacrificed so that others may feel secure?
This is a question every faith can recognize—and must answer honestly.
Conclusion
Power will always seek sacred justification. History assures us of that. The task of religion in public life is not to bless power, but to limit it, humanize it, and call it to account.
For Christians, the crucified God offers a permanent warning against sacrificial politics. For the wider interfaith community, the image invites shared discernment: a society faithful to its deepest moral wisdom is one that refuses to build its future on the suffering of others.
India does not need less religion in public life. It needs better religion—religion that protects life rather than consumes it, and faith that chooses compassion over control.
Suggested Reading (for Interfaith Engagement)
· Ambedkar, B. R. Annihilation of Caste. New Delhi: Navayana, 2014.
· Brueggemann, Walter. Journey to the Common Good. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2010.
· Cavanaugh, William T. The Myth of Religious Violence. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.
· Hengel, Martin. Crucifixion. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1977.
· Sen, Amartya. The Idea of Justice. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2009.
Rev. Dr. Richard Howell is the Principal of Caleb Institute, Haryana, India. He is the former General Secretary of Evangelical Fellowship of India and Asia Evangelical Alliance. He is also the founding member of the Global Christian Forum.
