NEW DELHI, Nov. 28 -- World has been witnessing conflicts and violence based on religion from the time people began to form communities or groups based on their religious identity. For millennia, all religious traditions have either fallen victim to or sanctioned violence. Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, Muslims, Sikhs and others have long invoked violence in the name of religion. When religion and state are intertwined, violence takes place.

Progress in science and technology should have reduced religion-based hatred and violence, but it has not happened. According to Pew Research Centre, in 2018, more than a quarter of the world's countries experienced a high incidence of hostilities motivated by religious hatred and mob violence...