The Essence of Community Cohesion through Religious Tolerance

This chapter discusses ways in which religious tourism can develop community cohesion and drawing on history, discusses whether a cohesive society is possible in conflicting times. Religious tourism plays a major role in engaging with members of different faiths in a way that can foster community cohesion. This concept of community cohesion is embed in the five pillars of Islam namely: Shahadah (declaration of faith); Salah (payers); Zakat (Charity); Roza (fasting) and Hajj (Pilgrimage to Mecca); it is also an inherent part of many other world faiths. Nowadays, barely a day passes without some conflict or other upsetting humans across the globe. Human-made problems such as the most controversial and longest war of our modern time - ‘the war on terror’ - has put people’s safety and security at risk all over the world. This chapter will discuss a mechanism for creating stronger community cohesion through religious and faith organisations. Also, the chapter will, through various examples from religious belief, illustrate how to develop peace and harmony through religious tourism.

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