Earlier this year, the great nation of Trinidad and Tobago witnessed the desecration of various religious buildings.
One of the more recently reported stories is the vandalism of a Kali temple at Carli Bay and the Lakrani Ganesh Mandir in Penal. Above the entrance of the Kali temple was spray-painted “Read Exodus 20:3”.
Other vandalisms for 2022 were the statue of St Bernadette on the compound of the St Francis RC Church Pastoral Centre in Belmont, and the church itself; and the Carapo Shiv Mandir in Arima, which was broken into, with the assailants cooking corned beef on the compound, not to mention the vandalism of the mandir itself.
The nature of these heinous crimes shows conclusively that they were perpetrated by misguided miscreants. The criminals in these matters are ignorant of the teachings of other religions and, in my opinion, have not dived deep into the sea of their own religion to find the wisdom pearls that divulge that it is one God and many paths.
They wade in the shallow end, where they identify with only subtle differences.
This is no different to racism, where some see only the subtle difference of skin colour and do not understand that it is one God that made us all.
Trinidad and Tobago, being a multi-religious country, should have as a compulsory subject, from kindergarten to Form Six, religious studies which focuses on the unity of all the religions and the practice of mindfulness and yoga meditation in the schools.
However, since this is not currently so, I would like to point out that December is known as Spiritual Literacy Month in the United States.
Most Trinidadians and Tobagonians may practise their religion in peace, but do not understand the religion of their neighbour.
I would like to see Trinbagonians celebrate Spiritual Literacy Month by reading at least one book per month about another religion.
A book I would recommend that shows the unity of all religions and is an easy read is the spiritual best-seller, The Autobiography of a Yogi, by Paramahansa Yogananda, found in our major bookstores in Trinidad.
Of course, there are many other books that one can read to learn about other religions that are practised in Trinidad and Tobago.
Let us privately celebrate in Trinidad and Tobago Spiritual Literacy Month and fight this ignorance that set off these miscreants to violate our freedom to practise our many religions in peace.
If we do not fight this ignorance, there may come a time where worshippers might be attacked instead of the murti, statues and institutions.
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