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From ancient times down to the present, there is found among
various peoples a certain perception of that hidden power which hovers
over the course of things and over the events of human history; at
times some indeed have come to the recognition of a Supreme Being, or
even of a Father. This perception and recognition penetrates their
lives with a profound religious sense.
Religions, however, that are bound up with an advanced culture have
struggled to answer the same questions by means of more refined concepts
and a more developed language. Thus in Hinduism, men contemplate the
divine mystery and express it through an inexhaustible abundance of
myths and through searching philosophical inquiry. They seek freedom
from the anguish of our human condition either through ascetical
practices or profound meditation or a flight to God with love and
trust. Again, Buddhism, in its various forms, realizes the radical
insufficiency of this changeable world; it teaches a way by which men,
in a devout and confident spirit, may be able either to acquire the
state of perfect liberation, or attain, by their own efforts or
through higher help, supreme illumination. Likewise, other religions
found everywhere try to counter the restlessness of the human heart,
each in its own manner, by proposing "ways," comprising teachings,
rules of life, and sacred rites. The Catholic Church rejects
nothing that is true and holy in these religions. She regards with
sincere reverence those ways of conduct and of life, those precepts and
teachings which, though differing in many aspects from the ones she
holds and sets forth, nonetheless often reflect a ray of that Truth
which enlightens all men. Indeed, she proclaims, and ever must
proclaim Christ "the way, the truth, and the life" (John
14:6), in whom men may find the fullness of religious life, in
whom God has reconciled all things to Himself.[4]
The Church, therefore, exhorts her sons, that through dialogue and
collaboration with the followers of other religions, carried out with
prudence and love and in witness to the Christian faith and life, they
recognize, preserve and promote the good things, spiritual and moral,
as well as the socio-cultural values found among these men.
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