Editorial
Merry Christmas
A prayer for world peace
There could not be a more important prayer at this moment than that for world peace. On the one hand, the spread of terrorism in certain parts of the world, and on the other, the highly intensified state terrorism practiced by Sharon's Israel, has made the world far more unsafe place than it was before. Add to that the behaviour of the United States as the arrogant arbiter of world affairs, and you have a dangerous mix of bigotry and militarism that is pushing our civilisation towards a conflagration of unknown consequences. Pope John Paul II in his Christmas day message prayed for peace and made mention about the armed conflict in Palestine. The grand patriarch of Bethlehem, the highest Catholic bishop in the assumed birthplace of Jesus Christ, used his homily to criticise Israel for building its "security" wall, which, he said, will neither bring peace nor security to the area. As the world observes the happy occasion of Christmas, people everywhere are acutely aware that somehow we seem to be losing our grip on events and that more and more our future is becoming uncertain. Extremist philosophies are finding their way into mainstream thinking in many parts of the world including the United States, South Asia, the Arab world and in countries like Indonesia, Pakistan, and India, to name only a few. There are signs of extremism and religious intolerance in the form of attacks against Quadianis in our own country. Overall the fundamental spirit of all religions -- that of tolerance, harmony, acceptance of each other's differences -- seems to be on the wane. The need of the hour is to reverse that process and there is no better time to demand such a change of humanity's course than Christmas. We echo the words of Pope John Paul II for peace and harmony in the world and wish our readers belonging to the Christian faith a Merry Christmas and all happiness in the future.
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