Is it wrong to say, “Only my religion is right” and is it wrong to convert others?

Billions of people – all Christians and Muslims – are taught from childhood that only their religion is right. Yet is it true? Or are they wrong to claim this?

Well, if a religion is based on reason, intuition and experience than surely it is not wrong to say it, and it’s also not wrong trying to convince others.

Unfortunately, neither Christianity nor Islam are based on reason, intuition or experience but only on blind belief in unverifiable dogmas. One can never know for sure if Jesus is really the son of God who was sent to earth to save us from the original sin and if he really said that the way to God, the father, goes only through him.

Similarly, we can never know for sure if Allah really communicated via Gabriel with Prophet Mohamed and declared that Mohammed is the last prophet and all must follow his words.

These two religions make blind belief even into a virtue: if you believe blindly what the Church or the mullahs tell you, you will be vastly rewarded with heaven after you are dead, is promised.

So for Christians to claim that only Christianity is right and for Muslims to claim, only Islam is right, is wrong, because firstly, both cannot be right and secondly, both of them have a harmful aspect in their doctrine. Both claim that whoever does not heed the words of the founder of their “only true” religion (Jesus, respectively Mohammed) will burn in hell for ever. If this were true, over half of today’s world population and moreover, billions of people who lived before us, would burn in hell for all eternity. This cannot be true.

But there is another ‘religion’ which is very different, but is also called ‘religion’. It is the ancient Indian wisdom and tradition which is called Hindu Dharma or Sanatana (eternal) Dharma.

Now this Dharma is based on reason, intuition and experience. It makes claims that make sense and can be verified, like the claim that the essence in all is one and the same – ‘Sat-Chit-Ananda’ – blissful awareness beneath the names and forms.

So, in this case it is not wrong to say that Hindu Dharma is right. That means, it’s also not wrong to try and convince others of its value.

Unfortunately, only members of Christianity and Islam go all out and try to spread their religion, claiming it alone is true and all others will not be accepted by the ‘true God’.

It would be so much better if Hindus would go all out and explain the philosophy of the Vedas, that the Supreme Intelligence behind this universe is one and immanent in everything, including in us and can be experienced.

This knowledge results in a very beneficial mind-set, far more beneficial than the divisive mind-set of the new-comer religions. It gives inner strength and makes people kind and truly human. If this mind-set would spread all over, we could even have a word without borders, as we would feel like one family…

By Maria Wirth