From the time religion was created by man, there have constantly been quarrels and disputes between various religions primarily debating which religion is better. Sometimes the squabbles between religions are settled through violence and other times, there are methods through which one faith spreads. I’d like to talk briefly on a non-violent method — evangelism, to be more specific.
What is evangelism? For many of us, when we think of evangelism, we think of Christian priests going to underdeveloped countries to spread the message of God. The truth is that evangelism happens in varying degrees in any religion of the world; yes, that includes Hinduism! But what are the reasons based on evangelism? Could it be mainly to spread the message of one’s religion? Though that is predominantly the case, I feel as if sometimes, if a method of prayer I do works for me and helps me, I may sincerely want others to try the new method hoping that it may help them as well.
For example, I recently started practicing Sudarshan Kriya Yoga, part of the Art of Living program and I must say that it has helped me a ton with regards to having the energy to get through the day sans coffee or random naps (which I admit, I miss very much). I noticed that this obviously had a very positive effect on various aspects of my behaviour, study habits, mood and temper to name a few. My one fear was that when my friends asked me how the yoga was helping me, I wanted to tell them to try the course because I felt it could help them. Although I have the sincere intention of helping my friends, it may seem as if I am trying to evangelize my friends to become followers of Art of Living.
So where does one draw the line between sincere intentions and evangelism? Is there a difference? Perhaps evangelism is not always bad, despite its bad connotation. Any thoughts?
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It’s clear that certain forms of evangelism could be bad (the word “evangelism” certainly carries with it many negative connotations) – but we don’t believe it is wrong to share what we believe to be the truth with others in most circumstances. Why should attempting to share religious truths be any different?
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