Madam, - Our heartiest congratulations to Joe Humphreys for shining some hope and optimism in the area of religious co-existence (Weekend Review, September 24th).
With the world becoming a global village and an inevitable consequence of this being an increased interaction between the different world faiths, the ideal of "trying to see the good in other people, and in other people's beliefs", as well as making an effort to see the similarities more than the differences, is no longer a far-fetched idea of moral rhetoric but rather an urgent call of the day.
As the fifth largest world-religion, Sikhism's message to humanity is parallel to and shares common ground with all the other world faiths. The Sikh holy book (Guru Granth Sahib) states: "Truth dawns upon a person when he accepts truthful counsel, shows compassion for others and gives away virtuous charity".
Therefore, what is clearly apparent is that the basic tenets of all religions are the same; only that our interpretations of them can be varied.
So let's not get bogged down by the fear of a so-called "clash of civilisations" and instead thwart this misconception by trying to build further in the area of peaceful co-existence. We are very fortunate in the Republic of Ireland, where most communities are young and there is much scope for improvement in this matter. Let's offer the world renewed hope, shall we? - Yours, etc,
HARPREET KAUR, Irish Sikh Council, Dublin 2.