Hindus have welcomed Church of Scotland’s efforts to extend the friendly hand for interfaith dialogue towards various religious traditions. Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, said that “it was a step in the right direction”.
Rajan Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, stressed that all religions should work together for a just and peaceful world. Dialogue would bring us mutual enrichment, Zed added.
Recently, Church affirmed its “Inter-Faith Agenda”, when to a questionnaire sent on inter-faith issues, resounding 85% answered that they felt inter-faith was an important area for the Church to be involved into today. Church also published a detailed write-up on its website on Visakha Puja Buddhist festival. Church groups recently visited Mesquita Central de Lisboa mosque in Portugal and Edinburgh Jewish Synagogue and Annandale Street Mosque in Edinburgh (United Kingdom).
Church website says: “The landscape of our country is no longer solely dominated with the steeples and crosses of Christians Churches, but is peppered by the arches and domes of temples, synagogues, gurdwaras and mosques…we are having to adopt practical ways of encountering people from other faith backgrounds, whether neighbours, shop keepers, co-workers, relatives or friends”.
Around 400 AD, St Ninian began the first large-scale Christian mission to Scotland, and now Church of Scotland, which called itself “Reformed and Presbyterian, national but free”, has over 500,000 members and around 1,200 ministers. Headquartered in Edinburgh, Right Rev John Cairns Christie is its Moderator, while Rev John Chalmers is the Principal Clerk.