Brotherhood in the Face of One God. M.K. Gandhi on Ways to Overcome Interreligious Disagreements. Gandhi, Mohandas Karamchand, God is One, Trans. by Elena A. Bitinayte

Abstract

The monotheistic idea is represented in the article as religious-philosophical base of nonviolent worldview. Belief in One God can help us to avoid and resolve any (not only religious) conflicts, but only providing that: 1) we considerate all reli­gions as equal paths leading to one spiritual goal; 2) we regard God as some power which connects the whole world, but not as someone beyond the universe who only rules it. Essentially that means two things: understanding that any claim of some religious community to possession of ultimate truth is failure and affirming at the same time the value of general spiritual kinship. These two no­tions make for us clear that intolerance and enmity are senseless. Noted above complex of ideas was analyzed on the example of M.K. Gandhi’s religious-philosophical thought which was foundation of his peacekeeping activity. The Indian thinker expresses his ideal of unity in diversity with the “tree of religions” metaphor. He depicts different faiths as branches of one spiritual root. He shows that all religions express divine truth in their original deepness in equal measure and at the same time all they are imperfect on the exoteric, i.e. cultural level. This way he proves absurdity of fanatic assurance in superiority of one faith over the others. He sees the method of overcoming religious conflicts in people’s un­derstanding of their kinship with God which helps them to realize their kinship with each of His creation. These ideas were foundation of Gandhi’s numerous callings to stop Hindu-Muslim conflict which darkened the last period of his life. The illustration is his short article “God is One” (25.09.1924). The Russian translation of this text is presented to the readers.