Inter-religious Dialogue
The term inter-religious or interfaith dialogue 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
Although the history of interfaith dialogue especially between religions eminating from the religion of prophet Abraham (see Hanif) goes back to early 20th century, the recent and strong appearance of it is due by Fethullah Gulen's movement. 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 Vietnam War.
The 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. It is because of the unique source of the religions: God. They have many factors to unite them at least on moral issues rather than to divert them from each other.
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: Interfaith Religion
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||”
Sacrifice of Guru Tegh Bahadur
The ninth Guru or Prophet of the Sikhs, Guru Teg Bahadur sacrificed his own life to protect the well-being of the Kashmiri Pundits or Hindus. In 1675, the Sikh’s beloved Guru was publicly beheaded in Delhi by the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb for not changing his faith. Before Guru Ji’s demise, Guru Ji said “Hinduism may not be my faith, and I may not believe in various Hindu traditions like idol worship, caste system, pilgrimages and other rituals, but I will fight for the right of all Hindus and all other peoples of the world to live with honour and to practice their faith according to their own beliefs.”
This has set a precedent and Sikhs are bound by the Guru’s teaching to respect and protect the rights of all other faiths – The principle of Interfaith dialogue was thus established by the Ten Gurus of Sikhism. It is also important to note that the Sikh Gurus were helped and assisted throughout history by people of other faiths. These associates on the whole have kept their original religions and in some cases, the Gurus have carried out the last rites according to the original faiths of these associates. Obviously, many of these associates have frequently made the decision to choose Sikhism as their new faith.
Companions of Guru Nanak Dev
As an example, Bhai Mardana (Muslim) and Bhai Bala (Hindu), were two associates of Guru Nanak. Both of them observed their own faiths and continued to practise their respective religions while accompanying Guruji on his travels spanning several decades. In case of Baba Mardana, on his death, Gurus performed the last rites as per the Muslim custom.
Golden Temple
The foundation stone of the Golden Temple was laid by Hazrat Mian Mir Ji, a Muslim and an associate of Guru Arjan Dev. The pool adjoining the Golden Temple complex is named after a Muslim devotee called Mata Kaulan, who had given assistance to the Sikh Gurus.
Bhai Kanhaiya
Further, Bhai Kanhaiya ji was a Sikh of Guru Tegh Bahadur who established the institute of ‘Sevapanthi’ (later called ‘Addanshahi’) sect of the Sikhs. He was born in Sodhara near Wazirabad in Sialkot District (now in Pakistan) of a wealthy family and left home when still young and travelled with yogis and other religious groups. When he met Guru Ji, he became a Sikh and settled down. Bhai Kanhaiya set up a religious centre at Kavha village,Attock District (now in Pakistan) from where he spread the Guru’s message and preached Sikhism to the local people. His special mission was the performance of selfless service (Sewa) to humanity with no distinction of nationality, caste or creed. In 1705 C.E. when on a visit to Anandpur he found the area entrenched in battle with a combination of hill troops of Hindu Rajas and the Mughal imperial army soldiers ‘littering’ the countryside with wounded and dying people. After the frequent skirmishes, Bhai Kanhaiya used to roam around serving water to the wounded and the dying without distinction of friend and foe.
This upset some Sikhs who complained to Guru Gobind Singh that Bhai Kanhaiya had been resuscitating the fallen enemy soldiers. Guru Gobind Singh summoned Bhai Kanhaiya and explained that he had received a complaint about his actions on the battlefield. Guruji said, “These brave Sikhs are saying that you go and feed water to the enemy and they recover to fight them again – Is this true?” Bhai Kanhaiya Ji replied "Yes, my Guru, what they said is true. But Maharaj, I saw no Mughal or Sikh in the battlefield. I only saw human beings and they all have the same God’s Spirit – Guruji have you not taught us to treat all Gods people as the same?" The Guru was very pleased with the reply. He blessed him and told the Sikhs that Bhai Kanhaiya had understood his teachings correctly. Guru also gave him medical Balm and said “From, now also put this on the wounds of all who need it”.
Sadly, Bhai Kanhaiya died in 1718 C.E. after retiring to Sodhara. His example, as a forerunner of the present day Red Cross, is a tribute to the universal message of compassion and kindness to all.
Tribute by Pearl S. Buck
Pearl S. Buck, a Nobel laureate, gives the following comment on receiving the First English translation of the Guru Granth Sahib (The Sikh Holy Book):
.... I have studied the scriptures of the great religions, but I do not find elsewhere the same power of appeal to the heart and mind as I find here in these volumes. They are compact in spite of their length, and are a revelation of the vast reach of the human heart, varying from the most noble concept of God, to the recognition and indeed the insistence upon the practical needs of the human body. There is something strangely modern about these scriptures and this puzzles me until I learned that they are in fact comparatively modern, compiled as late as the 16th century, when explorers were beginning to discover the globe, upon which we all live is a single entity divided only by arbitrary lives of our own making. Perhaps this sense of unity is the source of power I find in these volumes. They speak to a person of any religion or of none*. They speak for the human heart and the searching mind. ...
(From the foreword to the English translation of the Guru Granth Sahib by Gopal Singh M.A. Ph.D. 1960) (* Bold by editor)
External links
- An Interactive Resource on Sikhism and World Religions
- Sikhstudy.com,
- Sikh Youth - Interfaith & Sikhism in Canada
- allaboutsikhs.com,
- Interfaith Forum
- Mardana
- Mata Kaulan’s Sarovar
Audio Links:
Photography:
Christianity
Up until the reformation, and certainly in many denominations for a long time afterwards (and up to the present), there has been strong teaching against other religious groups. 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.
Co-operation between different denominations is a much stronger movement within Christianity. Perhaps since it is strongly founded in doctrine:
John 17:20-21. “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me."
However, since different Christian denominations remain within the same religion, many working in the ecumenical movement do not accept the term InterFaith, but rather InterChurch. There in an important distinction between those of the same faith, but different traditions working together, and those of different faiths working together.
For InterChurch, see also:
Christian ecumenism
However, since 1993, William E. Swing, Episcopal Bishop of California, has been a primary catalyst for the creation of a United Religions, along the lines of the United Nations. Part One of this book, The Coming United Religions (Conexus Press, 1998 ISBN 0963789759), is the story of his vision, travels, and consultations with religious and spiritual leaders. Bishop Swing's inspiring message serves as an open and hopeful introduction to the movement for the general reader. Part Two, reflecting the work of many others, includes drafts of the United Religions Charter, proposals for its unique organizational design, action agendas, and opportunities for reader feedback and participation.
For United Religions, see also:
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.
We believe that interfaith dialogue is a must today, and that the first step in establishing it is forgetting the past, ignoring polemical arguments, and giving precedence to common points, which far outnumber polemical ones.
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.
Buddhism
Judaism
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.
One Spirit Interfaith Seminary and Church 330 West 38th Street, Suite 1500, New York NY 10018, USA. Tel: 001 212 931 6840. Fax: 001 212 931 6841. E-mail: email: info@onespiritinterfaith.org Web: http://www.onespiritinterfaith.org One Spirit Learning Alliance is a non-profit educational and spiritual organization that supports individual and organizational evolution by promoting the ideals of Interfaith Spirituality and applying the wisdom of the great traditions, ancient and modern, to contemporary life.
Council for a Parliament of World Religions (CPWR) 70 East Lake, #205, Chicago 60601, USA. Tel: 001 312 6292 990. Fax: + 991. E-mail: info@cpwr.org Web: http://www.cpwr.org Are holding a very important Forum 2004 in Barcelona, Spain during the period 7 July to 13 July 2004 to debate various issues relevant to Interfaith dialogue.
World Congress of Faiths,London Inter Faith Centre, 125 Salusbury Rd, London, NW6 6RG, UK. Telephone +44 (0) 20 895 93129 +44 (0) 1403 257 801 Fax +44 (0) 208 959 3129 E mail: General Enquiries: WorldconFaiths@aol.com Membership Enquires: membership@worldfaiths.org Interreligious Insight Editor: alan.race@ntlworld.com WCF Chair: chair@worldfaiths.org Web: http://www.worldfaiths.org
International Interfaith Centre 2 Market Street, Oxford, OX1 3EF, UK Tel: +44(0)1865 202745; Fax: +44(0)1865 202746 http://www.interfaith-center.org E-mail: iic@interfaith-center.org
The Inter Faith Network for the United Kingdom 8A Lower Grosvenor Place, London, SW1W 0EN Phone: 020 7931 7766 Fax:: 020 7931 7722 Email address: ifnet@interfaith.org.uk Web address: http://www.interfaith.org.uk
International Association for Religious Freedom 2 Market Street, Oxford OX1 3EF UK. Tel: 0044 1865 202744 Fax: + 46 E-mail: hq@iarf.net Web: http://www.iarf.net
World Conference Of Religions For Peace 777 United Nations Plaza, New York, NY 10017, USA. Tel: 001 212 687-2163 Fax: + 983-0566. E-mail: info@wcrp.org Web: http://www.religionsforpeace.org
World Faiths Development Dialogue Elmfield House, University of Birmingham, Selly Oak, Birmingham B29 6LQ UK. Tel. +44 121 415 8357; Fax + 8358. E-mail: wfdd@btinternet.com Web: http://www.wfdd.org.uk
Interfaith Youth Core 1111 N Wells, Suite 501, Chicago, IL 60610, USA. Tel 001 312-573-8825 E-mail: info@ifyc.org Web: http://www.ifyc.org
Interfaith Action UK 13 Kellett Road, London, SW2 1DX, http://www.interact-uk.org.uk [1]
Millennium World Peace Summit 301 East 57th Street, 3rd Floor, New York, NY 10022, USA. Tel: 001 212-593-6438. Fax: + 6345 Email: info@millenniumpeacesummit.org Web: http://www.millenniumpeacesummit.org
Minorities of Europe 40 Stoke Row, Coventry CV2 4JP, UK.. Tel/fax: 0044 24 7644 3475. E-mail: deepak@gnaik.freeserve.co.uk Web: http://www.moe-online.com
Neighborhood Interfaith Movement 6757 Greene Street, Philadelphia, PA 19119, USA. Tel: 215-843-5600 Web: http://www.nim-phila.org
United Religions Initiative P.O. Box 29242, San Francisco, California 94129, USA. Tel: 1-415-561-2300 Fax: + 2313 E-mail: office@uri.org Web: http://www.uri.org
World Fellowship of Inter-Religious Councils Fr. Albert Nambiaparambil, Upasana, Thodupuzla, Kerala 685584, India. Tel: 0091 4862 223286 Fax: + 225473 mobile 9847387073 E-mail: upasana_dr@satyam.net.in
Peace Council 2702 International Lane #108, Madison, 53704 WI, USA. Tel: 001 608 241 2200 Fax: + 2209 E-mail: icpc@peacecouncil.org Web: http://www.peacecouncil.org
Spiritual Forum for World Peace at the United Nations Dr Gerardo Gonzalez, Project Director, Via Verde 9440, (Lo Curro) Vitacura, Santiago, Chile. Tel/fax: 0056 2 2185578. E-mail: gerardo.gonzalez@mi.cl
Temple of Understanding 211 E. 43rd Street, Suite 1600, New York, NY 10017, USA Tel: 001 212 573 9224, fax 9225 E-mail: info@templeofunderstanding.org Web: http://www.templeofunderstanding.org
Global Peace Works the interfaith charitable service organization
The Institute of Interfaith Dialog http://www.interfaithdialog.org based in the US
External links
- Chaplaincy Institute of Arts and Interfaith Ministries
- An Interactive Resource on Sikhism and World Religions
- Universal Interfaith Church
- Gurmat Studies Foundation - Tolerance & Interfaith Speakers]
- Interfidei - an interfaith group in Indonesia since 1991
de:Interreligiöser Dialog
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