Interfaith dialogue, also known as interreligious dialogue, refers to cooperative, constructive, and positive interaction between people of different religious traditions (i.e., "faiths") or spiritual or humanistic beliefs, at both the individual and institutional levels.
Throughout the world, there are local, regional, national and international interfaith initiatives; many are formally or informally linked and constitute larger networks or federations. These include organisations such as the United Religions Initiative, the Parliament of the World's Religions, and interfaith training institutions like OneSpirit Interfaith Foundation in the United Kingdom, which since 1996, has prepared interfaith ministers for community service, spiritual accompaniment, and inclusive ceremony.
The often quoted statement "There will be no peace among the nations without peace among the religions. There will be no peace among the religions without dialogue among the religions" was formulated by Hans Küng, a professor of Ecumenical Theology and President of the Global Ethic Foundation.Musser, D & Sunderland, D., War or Words: Interreligious Dialogue as an Instrument of Peace Cleveland: The Pilgrim Press, (2005) 1. Interfaith dialogue plays a major role in the study of religion and peacebuilding.
Definition The Archdiocese of Chicago's Office for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs defines "the difference between ecumenical, interfaith, and interreligious relations", as follows: "ecumenical" as "relations and prayer with other Christians", "interfaith" as "relations with members of the 'Abrahamic faiths' (Jewish, Muslim and Christian traditions)", and "interreligious" as "relations with other religions, such as Hinduism and Buddhism".
Some interfaith dialogues have more recently adopted the name interbelief dialogue,"The Morning Buzz," Public Religion Research Institute, July 10, 2014. Retrieved July 10, 2014."Minnesota Interfaith Group Changes Its Name to Become More Inclusive of Atheists," Hemant Mehta, The Friendly Atheist, July 9, 2014. Retrieved July 10, 2014."St. Paul's atheists are coming out of the closet," Bob Shaw, St. Paul Pioneer Press, August 4, 2014. Retrieved August 5, 2014. while other proponents have proposed the term interpath dialogue, to avoid implicitly excluding atheists, agnostics, humanists, and others with no religious faith but with ethical or philosophical beliefs, as well as to be more accurate concerning many world religions that do not place the same emphasis on "faith" as do some Western religions. Similarly, pluralistic rationalist groups have hosted public reasoning dialogues to transcend all worldviews (whether religious, cultural or political), termed transbelief dialogue."Promising Practice: Finding Common Ground Through Difference," Harvard Pluralism Project. Retrieved November 02, 2012. To some, the term interreligious dialogue has the same meaning as interfaith dialogue. The World Council of Churches states: "Following the lead of the Roman Catholic Church, other churches and Christian religious organizations, such as the World Council of Churches, have increasingly opted to use the word interreligious rather than interfaith to describe their own bilateral and multilateral dialogue and engagement with other religions. [...] the term interreligious is preferred because we are referring explicitly to dialogue with those professing religions—who identify themselves explicitly with a religious tradition and whose work has a specific religious affiliation and is based on religious foundations."
History
History records examples of interfaith initiatives throughout the ages, with varying levels of success in establishing one of three types of "dialogue" to engender, as recently described, either understanding, teamwork, or tolerance:
"In the dialogue of the head, we mentally reach out to the other to learn from those who think differently from us." "In the dialogue of the hands, we all work together to make the world a better place in which we must all live together." "In the dialogue of the heart, we share the experience of the emotions of those different from us."
The historical effectiveness of interfaith dialogue is an issue of debate. Friar James L. Heft, in a lecture on "The Necessity of Inter-Faith Diplomacy", spoke about the conflicts among practitioners of the three Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam). Noting that except for the Convivencia in the 14th and 15th centuries, believers in these religions have either kept their distance or have been in conflict, Heft maintains, "there has been very little genuine dialogue" between them. "The sad reality has been that most of the time Jews, Muslims and Christians have remained ignorant about each other, or worse, especially in the case of Christians and Muslims, attacked each other."
In contrast, The Pluralism Project at Harvard University says, "Every religious tradition has grown through the ages in dialogue and historical interaction with others. Christians, Jews, and Muslims have been part of one another's histories, have shared not only villages and cities, but ideas of God and divine revelation."
The importance of Abrahamic interfaith dialogue in the present has been bluntly presented: "We human beings today face a stark choice: dialogue or death!"
More broadly, interfaith dialogue and action have occurred over many centuries. In the 16th century, the Emperor Akbar encouraged tolerance in Mughal India, a diverse nation with people of various faith backgrounds, including Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism, and Christianity.
Religious pluralism can also be observed in other historical contexts, including Muslim Spain. Zarmanochegas (Zarmarus) (Ζαρμανοχηγὰς) was a monk of the Sramana tradition (possibly, but not necessarily a Buddhist) from India who journeyed to Antioch and Athens while Augustus (died 14 CE) was ruling the Roman Emprire.Strabo, xv, 1, on the immolation of the Sramana in Athens (Paragraph 73) .liv. Cassius Dio, Roman History, 9.
Religious beliefs Baháʼí Faith
Interfaith and multi-faith interactivity is integral to the teachings of the Baháʼí Faith. Its founder Bahá'u'lláh enjoined his followers to "consort with the followers of all religions in a spirit of friendliness and fellowship".Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh, page 22 , Bahá'u'lláh, From the "Bishárát" (Glad-Tidings). Through the Baháʼí International Community agency, an official United Nations (UN) NGO, the Baháʼís also participate at a global level in inter-religious dialogue both through and outside of the United Nations processes.
In 2002, the Universal House of Justice, the global governing body of the Baháʼís, issued a letter to the religious leadership of all faiths in which it identified religious prejudice as one of the last remaining "isms" to be overcome, enjoining such leaders to unite in an effort to root out extreme and divisive religious intolerance.
Buddhism Buddhism has historically been open to other religions. Ven. Dr. K. Sri Dhammananda stated:
The 14th Dalai Lama believes that the "common aim of all religions, an aim that everyone must try to find, is to foster tolerance, altruism and love". He met with Pope Paul VI at the Vatican in 1973. He met with Pope John Paul II in 1980, 1982, 1986, 1988, 1990, and 2003. In 2006, he met privately with Pope Benedict XVI. In 1990, he met in Dharamsala with a delegation of Jewish teachers for an extensive interfaith dialogue.Kamenetz, Rodger (1994)The Jew in the Lotus HarperCollins: 1994. He has since visited Israel three times and met in 2006 with the Chief Rabbi of Israel. He has also met the late Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Robert Runcie, and other leaders of the Anglican Church in London, Gordon B. Hinckley, late President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), as well as senior Eastern Orthodox Church, Muslim, Hindu, Jewish, and Sikh officials.
In 2010, the Dalai Lama was joined by Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth, and Islamic scholar Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr of George Washington University when Emory University's Center for the Study of Law and Religion hosted a "Summit on Happiness".
Christianity In 2013, Pope Francis became the first Catholic leader to call for "sincere and rigorous" interbelief dialogue with atheists, both to counter the assertion that Christianity is necessarily an "expression of darkness of superstition that is opposed to the light of reason", and to assert that "dialogue is not a secondary accessory of the existence of the believer" but instead is a "profound and indispensable expression ... [of] faith [that] is not intransigent, but grows in coexistence that respects the other.""Pope urges dialogue with nonbelievers in letter to high profile atheist," Francis X. Rocca, Catholic Herald, September 12, 2013 . Retrieved August 5, 2014."Pope Francis' Letter to the Founder of 'La Repubblica' Italian Newspaper," Vatican City, September 11, 2013 . Retrieved August 5, 2014.
Hinduism Hinduism has a strong principle for interfaith dialogue as the Upanishads state, "Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam" which means "the world is one family." Hinduism encourages harmony and cooperation among religious communities.
Historically, scholars like Shankaracharya engaged with Buddhist and Jain philosophers refining his school of thought. The Bhakti movement's emphasis on devotion versus theological distinction allowed interactions between Hindu and Islamic traditions—which is seen in the works of Kabir and Guru Nanak.
Swami Vivekanand emphasized religious harmony and universal acceptance during his speech at the World's Parliament of Religions in 1893. This speech helped shape contemporary Hindu approach to interfaith dialogue.
Islam Muslim theologians have advocated inter-faith dialogue on a large scale, something which is new in a political sense.
Dialogue is particularly encouraged amongst the People of the Book (Jews, Christians and Muslims)., Quran Surah Aal-i-Imraan ( Verse 64 ) The principles found in the Islamic and Christian scriptures present the opportunity for both religions to meet at a common moral ground. This common ground was stated as "part of the very foundational principles of both faiths: love of the One God, and love of the neighbour". The declaration asserted that "these principles are found over and over again in the sacred texts of Islam and Christianity".