Darkness Cannot Drive Out Darkness
The world is being consumed with hatred and conflict. From racial prejudice to religious prejudice, political prejudice to a neighbor having conflict with neighbor, humanity worldwide is in peril. Our societies and institutions are crumbling around us, losing our trust and involvement in them.
As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
As the interfaith community at this time, we must embrace love and unity and not be swept up in the conflict surrounding us. My watchwords in interfaith are Open-Heart, Humility, and Respect. I bring an open heart and humility to learn from others. My religion, the Baha’i Faith, doesn’t have all the answers. So I come from a place of humility to others, to learn from them. I have an open heart to learn, to grow spiritually with others. I also come with respect for others because I know from past experience, that those I meet in interfaith are just as devoted to their religion as I am to mine and they also come with an attitude of an open heart.
To me, all of this shows in what happened at the Synagogue in Texas on Saturday. In that small town, the Rabbi, from what I understand, was well known at the local mosque. At a press conference afterward, a local law enforcement officer said that he was a Christian, knew the Rabbi personally, and called for prayers when he was notified of what was going on. As the hostage situation progressed, I imagine a dome over that town with the prayers flowing from Jews, Christians, and Muslims for the safety of those hostages. In the days, weeks, and months to come, I imagine people of all faiths in that town will become very close, visiting each other’s religious services, coming together to support that congregation in their terror and heartbreak over what happened.
I pray to God that each one of us has love in our hearts, that each actively works for love and unity among all people. But just having love is not enough. We have to actively work to bring people together, have to actively work to break down the prejudices we have for each other.
As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.”