Prologue continues....

The Gita also underscores the plurality of faiths. It is the quintessence of
Indian philosophy. The people of India being the inheritors of this legacy
believe that different faiths are paths to reach the ultimate reality.

So,
culturally they are attuned to respecting all religions. Religious tolerance
is ingrained in the Indian mind. Christianity came to India almost in the
beginning of the Christian era. Islam came later along with the Arab
merchants who came here to trade. Even Jews came to India in the hoary
past to escape persecution from the Romans.

The followers of these faiths
were welcomed by the rulers as well as the people. Facilities were given to
them to set up their churches for worship and bury their dead. Both these
religions could freely proselytize the local people and there is no historical
record of any organized resistance or violence against them. The last two
thousand years of Indian history is a shining example of religious tolerance and co-existence. This co-existence further strengthened the eclectic tradition of India and opened the windows of the mind to new thoughts and ideas coming from other parts of the world.

India’s civilizational continuum lends it a unique appeal. Contemporarycivilizations, particularly those in the West Asian region and other parts of the world, did not have a lasting impact on the people of those regions. The rapid spread of proselytizing religions wiped out the traces of those civilizations.

To be continued...