–excerpt–
The spiritual roots of tolerance include, it seems to me, a respect for individual conscience — seen as a Gift of God — as well as a posture of religious humility before the Divine. It is by accepting our human limits that we can come to see The Other as a fellow seeker of truth — and to find common ground in our common quest.
Let me emphasize again, however, that spirituality should not become a way of escaping from the world but rather a way of more actively engaging in it.
There are a variety of ways in which we can work to build a culture of tolerance in a turbulent time. Many of them are reflected in the work of our Aga Khan Development Network. One example is the new Global Centre for Pluralism which we recently established in Ottawa — in partnership with the Canadian government. The Centre sees the minority experience of the Ismaili community as a helpful resource in the quest for a constructive pluralism — along with the pluralistic model of Canada itself.
The challenges to tolerance are manifold — in both the developed and the developing world. The revolutionary impact of globalization means that many who never met before now intermingle continually — through modern communications media and through direct contact. The migration of populations around the world is at record levels; peoples who once lived across the world from one another, now live across the street.
But societies which have grown more pluralistic in makeup, are not always growing more pluralistic in spirit. What is needed — all across the world — is a new “cosmopolitan ethic”– rooted in a strong culture of tolerance.
Address by His Highness the Aga Khan
to the Tutzing Evangelical Academy Upon Receiving the “Tolerance” Award
20 May 2006 Tutzing, Germany
http://iis.ac.uk/view_article.asp?ContentID=109417
Related: https://ismailimail.wordpress.com/tag/cosmopolitan-ethic/
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