III.- SPIRITUALITY AND RELIGIOUS FREEDOM IN THE WORLD TODAY

III.- SPIRITUALITY AND RELIGIOUS FREEDOM IN THE WORLD TODAY
Henri de Lubac asks himself what the high ambitions of this humanism have been reduced to. He asks himself what has become of man as conceived by this atheist humanism.
And he responds:(5)
“A being that can still hardly be called a being.
A thing that has no content, a cell completely merged in a mass that is in process of “ becoming”.
Social-and-historical man’, of which all that remains is pure abstraction, apart from the social relations and the position in time by which he is defined.
There is no stability or depth left in him”.
enri de Lubac expresses his fears:
“There is nothing to prevent his being used as material or as a tool either for the preparation of some future society or for ensuring, here and now, the dominance of one privileged group.
There is not even anything to prevent his being cast aside as useless.
Moreover, he can be conceive under different types of man. This types could vary even to the point of contradiction, according a biological or economic system of explanation or according his purpose as part of mankind history. But beneath these diversities there is always the same fundamental creature, or rather the same absence of any creature. For this man has literally been dissolved. In reality, there is no longer any man because there is no longer anything that is great in that man”.
As Nicolás Berdiaev would say: “where there is no God, neither would man exist.” (6)

Gustave Thibon is very concise when he says: (7) “God is not only a norm imposed upon man which steers and drives him; He is the Absolute on which man is based, the Loved One that draws him, the Beyond that spurs him, the Eternal that prepares the only clime he can breathe, and He is, in any case, that third dimension in which Man finds his depth. If man becomes his own God, he may entertain the illusion of being uplifted and liberated for some time: ephemeral exaltation! It is God that he degrades, and not much time will pass before he in turn feels degraded.” 

The year 2006 will mark the anniversary of the Declaration of 1981 regarding the elimination of all forms of intolerance and discrimination against religion or conviction.
United Nations Special Rapporteur, Mrs Jahangir states with concern that for many people in the world today, freedom of religion or conviction is not a reality. In certain countries, religious intolerance has reached alarming levels.

The Special Rapporteur hopes that this anniversary can be an occasion to call for the promotion of freedom of religion and conviction, with the proposal to call attention to a matter of such transcendence for human beings. She asks the States and other international agents to attentively examine this question within the context of the efforts relating to the reform of the United Nations. (8)

According to the Human Rights Watch 2005 report, there has been an improvement in religious freedom for 2004. Nonetheless, the report reveals religious intolerance in many countries. I mention only three of them: (9)
Serbia: The government failed to respond to the explosion of ethnic and religious violence in March 2004.
China: Although religious practice is tolerated, official Communist Party doctrine holds that religion, as a belief structure and an organizational arrangement, will eventually wither and die. Until such a time, the Chinese government believes religion must be strictly controlled to prevent it from becoming a political force or an institution capable of competing with the state for the loyalty of China´s citizens.

Pakistan: Violence against religious communities increased significantly in 2004. At least 4,000 people, largely from the minority Shi´a Muslim have died as a result of violence since 1980. There has been a sharp increase in the number of targeted killings of Shi´a, particularly Shi´a doctors, in recent years.Those implicated in acts of sectarian violence are rarely prosecuted and virtually no action has been taken to protect the affected communities.

IV.- OBSTACLES FOR HIS APPEARANCE
The great difficulty we find nowadays in accepting the appearance of an Avatar or a Messiah amongst us is that, for centuries, nothing has happened. Those who sustain this idea in the West nowadays are looked upon with a certain tolerant condescension and are sometimes seen as a joke. Nonetheless, if we analyse the world situation carefully, we can believe that the moment we are living is exceptional and that we stand before an extraordinary opportunity.
Children´s rights are often violated in many parts of the world. Although they are promised to receive a special protection under international law, they are routinely detained in abusive conditions. They face violence at the hands of other youths or prison guards. A vast majority of human rights crimes go unpunished, reflecting corruption and lack of access to justice, especially for the poorest and most vulnerable sectors of society.

The global commitment to overcoming inequality is fading. Eighty per cent of the world´s gross domestic product belongs to 1 billion people living in the develop world; the remaining 20 per cent is shared by the 5 billion people living in the developing countries. If we fail to adress this inequality predicament will ensure that social justice and better living conditions for all people remain elusive, and that the communities, countries and regions remain vulnerable to social, political and economic upheaval.

In many countries, the failure to address the need of poor people as part of a strategy for sustained growth has been a mayor obstacle to reducing poverty.
There are persistent gender gaps in acces to education, employment, and equal remuneration. Women´s poorer access to a better employment is often at the root of their lower status in many societies. No doubt that the status of women has its own definition in every specific cuture and society. Both new and old generations of women must be present in the cultural, economic and social arenas of the societies of all countries today. Is specially important to provide social protection for the old members of society and the governments should therefore make great efforts to design policies to support our elders instead of looking for ways to cut cost from their social budgets.

The persistence, and even deepening, of various forms of inequality worldwide should not be accepted with equanimity. With the unprecedented wealth and resources, technical expertise, and scientific and medical knowledge available in the world today, the most vulnerable society cannot continue to be left so far behind. Macroeconomic, ,financial globalization and changes in labour market institutions cannot be disconnected from the struggle to achieve social development, equalityy and social justice. The failure to pursue a comprehensive, integrated approach to development will perpetuate the inequality predicament, for which everyone pays the price. (10)

Once Alí a.s. came out of Zayd bn Wahab house and there were patches sewn to his dress.Bn-Noaja, who was and enemy, taunted Alí (a.s.) on the very poor and coarse kind of dress put on by him. He replied: (11)

“Let go, what have you to find objections in my dress, it is the kind which our masses can afford, why can you not think of their lives and dresses, I shall improve my standard after I have succeeded in improving theirs. I shall continue to live like them. Such kind of dress makes one feed humble and meek and give up vanity, haughtiness and arrogance”.

In the midst of this chaotic and unhappy world,, men, have a unique chance to divest themselves from egoistic feelings that divide and confront different societies. Men have the chance to reject materialism and its effect of consumerism that blocks the way to light and wisdom. The apostle Matthew tell us what Jesus of Nazareth said about storing material things:(12)

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and decay destroy, and thieves break in and steal. But store up treasures in heaven, where neither moth or decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be.”