Interfaith dialogue

Terminology

The term Interfaith refers to cooperation and positive interaction between people of different faiths. It is different from mixing the rules from different religions to create an alternative way. Interfaith Dialogue often involves promoting dialogue between different religions to increase tolerance towards the other.

Important Events in the History of Interfaith Dialogue

In the Early 20th Century dialogue started to take place between the Abrahamic Faith's of Christianity , Judaism and Islam which have much in common with each other.

The Interfaith dialogue movement has gathered much interest after the 1960s. In 1965 the Roman Catholic Church issued the Vatican II document Nostra Aetate, instituting major policy changes in the Catholic Church's policy towards non-Christian religions.

In the late 1960's interfaith groups joined around Civil Rights issues for African-Americans and later were often vocal in their opposition to the Viet Nam War.

In Recent years interfaith dialogue movement has been popularized and reformulated by M. Fethullah Gulen (1938-), a well-known Turkish scholar. The approach is based on the belief that the religions have a lot in common.

Today, interfaith is more common than ever (and we expect this trend to continue). Interfaith projects are championed by many International organizations - See List below.

The Interfaith movement in different religions

Sikhism:

One religion, which was founded on principles of interfaith, is Sikhism, whose founders have since 1469 defined and preached the rule of interfaith dialogue and interfaith respect. A Sikh by definition must respect and accept all other world religions.

The SGGS says on page 142: “Without the Lord’s Name, life is worthless. Through doubt, the people are being destroyed. One who recognizes that all spiritual paths lead to the One shall be emancipated. One who speaks lies shall fall into hell and burn. In the entire world, the most blessed and sanctified are those who remain absorbed in Truth. One who eliminates selfishness and conceit is redeemed in the Court of the Lord. ||9||”

Links

Sikh Youth - Interfaith & Sikhism in Canada
Interfaith Forum

14th Annual World Religions Interfaith Conference Audio

15th Annual World Religions Interfaith Conference Audio

Interfaith Conference "Concept of God" Speech by Parminder Singh

14th Annual World Religions Interfaith Conference Photography

Christianity

Early Years

Until the Reformation, and certainly in many denominations for a long time afterwards (and up to the present), there has been strong teaching which views other religious groups in a negative light

Roman Catholic Church=

Whilst in recent times, many churches have taught religious tolerance (e.g.Vatican II), recognition of the complete divine truth of other faiths is unlikely to every occur, since it would contradict several key teachings of the New Testament.

The furthest the Vatican has gone is to state that faiths around the world all hold certain truths in keeping with those of the Catholic Church, but the complete truth is only to be found in Jesus Christ.

Islam

The goal of dialogue among world religions is the very nature of religion demands this dialogue. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and even Hinduism and other world religions, accept the same source for themselves, and, including Buddhism, pursue the same goal. Regardless of how their adherents implement their faith in their daily lives, such generally accepted values as love, respect, tolerance, forgiveness, mercy, human rights, peace, brotherhood, and freedom are all values exalted by religion. Most of these values are accorded the highest precedence in the messages brought by Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad, upon them be peace, as well as in the messages of Buddha and even Zarathustra, Lao-Tzu, Conficius, and the Hindu prophets.

Muslims accept all Prophets and Books sent to different peoples throughout history, and regard belief in them as an essential principle of being Muslim. A Muslim is a true follower of Abraham, Moses, David, Jesus, and all other Prophets, upon them be peace. Not believing in one Prophet or Book means that one is not a Muslim. Thus we acknowledge the oneness and basic unity of religion, which is a symphony of God’s blessings and mercy, and the universality of belief in religion. So, religion is a system of belief that embraces all races and all beliefs, a road that brings everyone together in brotherhood.

Muslims have a Prophetic Tradition almost unanimously recorded in the Hadith literature that Jesus will return when the end of the world is near. We do not know whether he will actually reappear physically, but what we understand is that near the end of time, values like love, peace, brotherhood, forgiveness, altruism, mercy, and spiritual purification will have precedence, as they did during Jesus’ ministry.

There are many common points for dialogue among Muslims, Christians, and Jews who take their religion seriously. As pointed out by Michael Wyschogrod, an American professor of philosophy, there are just as many theoretical or creedal reasons for Muslims and Jews drawing closer to one another as there are for Jews and Christians coming together. Furthermore, practically and historically, the Muslim world has a good record of dealing with the Jews: there has been almost no discrimination, and there has been no Holocaust, denial of basic human rights, or genocide. On the contrary, Jews have always been welcomed in times of trouble, as when the Ottoman State embraced them after their expulsion from Spain.

Hinduism

Hinduism has been a religion of unity:

"May there be welfare to all beings; may there be fullness and wholeness to all people; may there be constant good and auspicious life to everyone; may there be peace everywhere.... May all be full of happiness and abundance; may everyone in the world enjoy complete health, free from diseases; may all see and experience good things in their lives, may not even a single person experience sorrow and misery. Om! Peace! Peace! Peace!" -- Daily prayers of Hindus. God's Way is the Way behind all paths and religions:

"O Mother! Let all my speech be your prayer; let all my crafts and technology be your worship and be the mystic gestures of my hands, adoring you. May all my movements become your devotional circumambulations. May everything I eat or drink be oblations to you. Let my lying down in rest and sleep be prostrations to you. Mother! Whatever I do, may all that become a sacramental service and worship for you."

ADI SANKARA, Hymn to the Divine Mother

Adi Sankara of the eighth century CE here worships God as the Divine Mother, exemplifying the experience of Hindus who relate to God, the supreme Person, equally in male and female orientations, both as Father and as Mother. This has profound implications for the vision of equality towards and between the sexes.

Network of International Interfaith Organisations

The following modern organisation are playing an important part in uniting the thought-processes in the Interfaith movement so that the ideals of this movement can be advanced.

1.) One Spirit Interfaith Seminary and Church http://www.onespiritinterfaith.org

2.)Council for a Parliament of World Religions http://www.cpwr.org

3.) World Congress of Faiths-http://www.worldfaiths.org

4.) International Interfaith Centre http://www.interfaith-center.org

5.) The Inter Faith Network for the United Kingdom http://www.interfaith.org.uk

6.) International Association for Religious Freedom http://www.iarf.net

7.) World Conference Of Religions For Peace http://www.religionsforpeace.org

8.) World Faiths Development Dialogue-http://www.wfdd.org.uk

9.) Interfaith Youth Core-http://www.ifyc.org

10.) Interfaith Action UK-http://www.interact-uk.org.uk]

11.) Millennium World Peace Summit http://www.millenniumpeacesummit.org

12.) United Religions Initiative http://www.uri.org