Religion has a great role to play in social development. But this role is not that of providing a scheme of social development in the structural sense. It is rather a matter of developing individuals, the units of society, as a result of which the whole of society becomes developed. Thus the role of religions is to develop the individuals directly, as a result of which, society is indirectly developed.
It would be true to say that man by nature is a development-seeking animal. By the urge of his own nature, the human being wants to make progress. The barrier to progress is not the absence of any external system; it is, in fact, anti-social thinking on the part of the individual for various reasons, for instance, feelings of jealousy, arrogance, violence, greed, revenge, etc. Religion is actually a scheme of spiritual uplift, which puts an end to all kinds of negative behaviour in individuals. In consequence, the process of social development is set in motion without any obstacle in its way.
In this respect, the role of religion in social development is to remove the trapdoor which acts as a barrier to social development. In this connection I will make three references from the three religions to make my point clear.
Once the Prophet of Islam was seated at a place in Madinah. A funeral procession passed by: The Prophet stood up in respect. A companion of the Prophet remarked: O Prophet it was the procession of a Jew.
The Prophet replied: ‘Was he not a human being?’ From this incident we learn that every religion teaches its believers to accord respect to one and all alike. Everyone is equal. Everyone deserves due respect from others as a human being. Therefore, by ignoring differences, one should regard one another as brothers, irrespective of religious persuasions.
Another principle in this connection is that which we learn from a sermon by Jesus Christ. Enjoining his followers, Christ said: “To him who strikes you on the one cheek offer the other also. And from him who takes away your cloak, do not withhold your tunic either.” (Luke, 6:29)
This gives us a lesson, in symbolic language, of unilateral adjustment. This means that one should be willing to resolve controversial matters unilaterally, so that a normal atmosphere may be maintained between all parties.
We learn another important point in this connection from an incident relating to Swami Vivekananda. Once a friend of the Swami wanted to test his mettle. So he placed on a table in his sitting room all the holy books of the major religion one on top of the other. He deliberately placed the Gita below all the other books, while the Bible was placed on the top. The host expected that Swamiji would be provoked on seeing this taking it to be an insult to his religion. But, contrary to his expectation, Swamiji smiled and remarked: “The foundation is really good!”
From this incident we learn that man should develop in him the ability to convert the negative into the positive; a minus into a plus. Neither social harmony nor social development can be achieved without this quality in this world full of differences and conflicts.
To put it briefly, respect for all, unilateral adjustment and positive attitudes—these are the three most important values in social development.
Religion basically produces these ethical and spiritual qualities within the individual. And when they are present within the members of a society, all kinds of development will be automatically set in motion. Once truly launched, nothing can come in their way. □
