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of God with his living presence and with his action.” (53) The more recent document Dominus lesus itself is a declaration on the "Unicity and Salvific Universality of Jesus Christ and the Church."18
The Hindu text the Bhagavad Gitā too claims exclusivity. Lord Krsna says, “As men approach Me, so I receive them. All paths, Arjuna, lead to Me." (Gita 4. 11) Similar passages are in plenty: “Some with faith may offer worship to other gods as devotees but that is only me they worship..."(9:23) Chapter 12 of the Bhagavad Gītā speaks about those who are 'dear to the Lord: those "who fix their minds on me” (Gītā 12:2), “who cast their works on me" (12:6), etc. The Lord further declares, “From me alone all states of beings derive in their deversities” (10:4.)19
Such and other Exclusivists claims-their religion/ideology is unique/superior and all other revelations are secondary and inadequatehave caused conflicts and violence in religious history. It is a cause of concern even more, today. It has repercussions both at the sociological as well as theological levels. The phenomenon of fundamentalism has become a threat to communal harmony and peace. The fundamentalists defend an absolute truth that provides a sense of identity and that must be protected from all compromise. It has encouraged revivalist movements in every religion. Religious feelings and structures are often manipulated by political, economic, cultural or ethnic power groups in order to safeguard their vested interests.
Though seemingly correct in a way (after all, to each, his/her mother is unique), Fundamentalism is considered a narrow affirmation of truth. It derives from a self sufficient attitude, which often looks at
18. By the Congregation for the Doctrine of faith, Published by Pauline
Publications, Bandra, 2000. This document had evoked controversies and comments from different quarters. Fr. S. Arockiasamy, S.J. says that "the Declaration, because of its specific limited objective, is not ecumenically formulated not does it have a language of ecumenical promotion......... (it) would have been differently expressed in a language and with a sensitivity embodying the long experience of dialogue......." See his reflections on
Dominus lesus in Sampriti, December 2000, p.3 19. Geoffrey Parrinder: The Bhagavad Gita- A Verse Translation, Sheldon Press,
London, 1974, p. 53
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