The Problem Facing SHEN

SHEN poses itself the problem of human fragmentation. Why do diverse religious communities even after living in close geographical proximity even in the same village and in the same city for hundreds of years laregly stay apart and bigoted?

Is the primary reason a lack of religisity? No it does not appear to be that because both the Hindu and Muslim communities in India in 1947 were highly religious communities going the temples and mosques many times a day. Their lives revolved around God and their particular religious practices. The catholics and protestants of Ireland do not lack faith. The Shia's and Sunnies of the world did not lack faith. Why can't the people of different faiths tolerate each other? Why can't people of different denominations in the the same faith love and respect each other? When you see religiously pious people behave inhumanely towards each other, it becomes evident that it is not the lack of faith and religiosity that prevents integrative human behavior. It is something else.

Is it the a lack of education? Admittedly the people of India in 1947 were not even literate let alone educated, how about the so called civilized and educated peoples of Europe, Americas and the rest of the world? What about the relations between Christians and Jews, catholics and protestants, whites, blacks and the indigenous, Chinese and Japanese, and so on? Modern education seems to be focus on earning a living rather than living life as a human being. It may improve quality of life but it seems incapable of improving human condition. We have more gadgets, we have bigger and more comfortable houses, bigger and more comfortable cars but our hearts stay continue to stay small. On the contrary, they have become smaller because of the hunger for gadgets and comforts that gadgets and comforts have created.

Why can't we tolerate, understand, respect and love each other across perceived lines of difference? There is intolerance, discrimnation and exploitation based uopn religion, sect, denomination, race, color, gender, gender orientation, almost any difference that exists amongst us. Why can't we understand that we are all members of the same human race and see our differences in that light? How can we be brought together as one human family living in the wider world community? That is the problem that SHEN is organized to address.