"Encountering Interfaith" by Harriet
Crabtree
Inter Faith Encounter and Dialogue
1) Introduction
2) Motivations and contexts
3) Some types of inter faith encounter and dialogue
4) Some issues and questions
5) Challenges and possibilities
1) Introduction
Good
morning.
I
have been invited to offer an overview of inter faith encounter
and dialogue, looking at some of the types and models for
this, and at the possibilities and challenges and future prospects.
It is a privilege to be offered this chance to reflect on
the topic at the Congress of IARF - one of first organisations
in the world to understand the significance of inter faith
encounter and to encourage dialogue between the religions.
Inter
faith encounter and dialogue is a growing phenomenon. It is
also an enormously important one which can make a real difference
to our societies and to the wider global community. In this
hall today there are many inter faith practitioners from around
the world - people who are helping to create inter faith understanding
and co-operation. Others of you are perhaps here because you
would like to explore possibilities for inter faith work in
your country or area or within your religious tradition.
Now,
each person involved in inter faith work will have their own
quite specific and unique perspective. I offer you simply
my personal picture and reflections. These draw on my experience
working for the Inter Faith Network for the UK for the last
twelve years. I will be exploring the issues in the following
way:
§
First I will reflect on some of the motivations and contexts
for inter faith encounter and dialogue
§ Second I will look at some informal and structured
types of inter faith encounter and dialogue
§ Third I will consider some particular issues and questions
(and here I should say that I have been asked to tackle some
of the tough ones!)
I
will conclude by reflecting briefly on a few of the challenges
and possibilities that lie before us at this time in our shared
global history.
2)
Motivations and contexts
First,
motivations and context.
a)
Motivations
Why
do people become involved in inter faith encounter and dialogue?
Reasons are many. They include, among others:
§ A desire to work for peace and harmony in one's society
and in the wider world -in some countries and regions, inter
religious and inter ethnic conflict make this a very urgent
calling
§ A commitment to ensuring a society that is inclusive
and welcoming to all its citizens
§ A calling to work alongside people of other faiths
for social justice issues, such as the ending of poverty
§ The wish to understand the beliefs and practices of
one's neighbours - or indeed of a spouse or relatives of another
faith - and to understand how one's own religion's teachings
relate to those of others
b) Contexts
But
now I would like to say a word about contexts because different
contexts shape the nature and goals of inter faith encounter
and dialogue. For example, in places such as Australia or
Belgium economic migration or patterns of refugee settlement
have given rise, over recent decades, to more religiously
diverse societies. In such countries dialogue and encounter
may come about partly as a way of recently settled communities,
with different faith traditions, knitting themselves into
the fabric of a new land but perhaps also critiquing aspects
of it. Dialogue will also be a tool for the wider population
to come to know more about and interact with their more recent
neighbours.
The
nature of dialogue and encounter in every country will be
different because their shared histories and concerns are
different. In many countries, people of different faiths coexist
well and inter faith dialogue will be a gentle pursuit, with
unpressured exploration of each other's traditions. But sometimes
difficult histories of colonialism, war, or discrimination
are interlinked with the religious pattern of a country and
make for tense relations between faiths at times. At the worst
extreme, they can contribute to the terrible phenomenon of
so-called ethnic/religious cleansing, forcing people of different
faiths and ethnicities out of a territory and destroying their
places of worship. In difficult circumstances, inter faith
organisations can play a vital role in trying to keep open
lines of communication between ethnic/religious groups. They
also have a role in pressing for equitable legal and social
arrangements which allow for a just coexistence of different
groups.
Today
the world is so interconnected that inter faith relations
in most countries are affected strongly by overseas events.
All dialogue has a global context. Religious people, most
of whose communities have links across the world, feel a particular
connection with their brothers and sisters in other countries.
When suicide bombers attack in Israel or Israeli tanks roll
into the West Bank, Jews and Muslims (and others) elsewhere
feel a deep and painful connection. When Hindus and Muslims
are killed in Gujarat, their co-religionists in other parts
of the world feel a personal link and sense of outrage. When
the planes crashed into the Twin Towers last September, Muslims
in many countries found themselves affected directly by a
backwash of prejudice and suspicion. In Britain, for example,
attacks on Muslims in some parts of the country began to happen
very swiftly. Among the various highly unpleasant incidents,
in Bolton in the North West of England, 20 worshippers, including
children, narrowly escaped injury when a petrol bomb was thrown
at their mosque. And in South Shields, someone sprayed in
6 foot high letters, "Avenge USA - kill a Muslim now"
on a wall near a mosque. According to the Muslim Council of
Britain, the extent of the attacks was not as bad as they
had originally feared but Muslims have, even so, felt very
vulnerable.
As
a result of recent tensions around the globe, inter faith
dialogue has of late has gained a greater sense of urgency
but it has also become much more difficult, particularly in
parts of the world where the events in the Middle East and
in India are affecting Jews, Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus and others.
3) Some types of inter faith encounter and dialogue
I
would now like to move on from context to explore a few different
types of inter faith encounter and dialogue or discussion.
a)
Informal unstructured encounter and discussion
First,
informal inter faith encounter and discussion.
In
parts of many countries of the world, such as Holland, the
United States, Bangladesh, Russia and South Africa (to name
but a few), people of different faiths live and work alongside
each other. Here inter faith encounter happens every day:
on buses and trains, in workplaces and schools, in hospitals
and prisons, and elsewhere. Most of the time the encounter
is one where matters of religion are not directly discussed.
People share their human experiences - talking about their
children, their jobs, their basic economic necessities. But
from time to time conversation turns to religious matters
and becomes an inter faith discussion. This is particularly
common around the time of religious festivals. A Hindu acquaintance
said to me that it is particularly at the time of Diwali,
the Hindu festival of lights when special decorations go up
in the streets, that he gets asked the most questions about
his faith. Life rituals, such as marriage and child naming,
as well as food customs and dietary regulations and clothing
can also prompt this kind of informal inter faith discussion.
On
the whole, such informal inter faith encounters are positive
or at least neutral. Not always though. Deep prejudices can
contribute to encounters being depressing and difficult, even
dangerous. For example, in Europe there are a small but significant
number of nominally Christian people who are terrified by
Islam and whose only encounter with Muslims takes the form
of attacking them verbally, in writing or even - in some cases
- physically. Jews are similarly targeted.
To
a high degree, fear and prejudice arise from sheer ignorance.
Let me speak on a personal note. I grew up in a very monocultural
area of England: York. Indeed, as some of you may know, one
of the reasons it is so monocultural even to this day is that
there was an appalling massacre of Jews there in the twelfth
century. To this day, some Orthodox Jews will not even travel
through the city.
In
this monocultural city back in the 1960s and 1970s we thought
very little about other religions but when we spoke of them
we did so as if they were alien tribes and particularly so
in the case of Jews. Our images were travesties that bore
no relation to any living, complicated reality. They were
stick people like the figures from the Hebrew Scriptures that
we drew in junior school Religious Education lessons. Or parodies
gained from literature like most of the Jews in Charles Dickens'
novels. Or members of a wicked race who helped kill Jesus,
as we later learned from uncontextualised New Testament teachings.
And
people of other religions remain stick people and parodies
for those who have never had experiences to alter their childhood
perceptions: stick people and parodies who are easier to ignore
the rights of, easier to hate, easier to dismiss, easier to
write out of one's world of reality. Not real living, breathing
fellow human beings.
Very important to me, in my late teens and 20s in London and
in the Centre for the Study of World Religions at Harvard
Divinity school in Massachusetts were the people I met and
became friends with who brought their traditions alive as
messy, complex, vibrant realities. And I have been fortunate
since 1990 to work for the Inter Faith Network and to meet
many more people of all the faith traditions and my working
relationships and friendships have compounded this awareness.
These experiences have helped, I hope, dispel some of the
very real prejudices I harboured as a child.
Yet,
there are many areas in Britain and in other countries in
Europe and beyond where the opportunities for positive informal
inter faith encounter are limited or non existent even in
very multi faith areas. In the UK, for example, for various
economic and social reasons, more recently settled communities
often live in ethnically unmixed areas, even where the overall
profile of their town or city is very mixed. And schools,
even in such mixed towns, can be almost entirely white or
almost entirely Asian. This means their pupils may get almost
no exposure to young people of other races or faiths.
It
is vital that in our different countries we can help create
a culture or ethos which enables people to be relaxed and
open minded about each other's faith traditions and where
there is no religious bigotry to lead to disharmony or conflict.
Education in schools and through the media is crucial to this.
So too is the work of inter faith organisations. There need
to be many chances for young people, and indeed adults, of
different faiths to meet each other, to talk, to learn about
each other's backgrounds and most deeply held beliefs.
Also
important for creating such an ethos of openness is work to
ensure religious freedom and equitable treatment for citizens
of all faiths. Religious freedom and positive inter faith
relations are two intertwined goals. In countries where the
rights of some faith communities and their members are truncated
there will be a sense of discrimination and this is almost
guaranteed to undercut positive inter relations. But similarly,
there is little point in working for the religious freedom
of people of all faiths if this process is not accompanied
by a process of education which enables those of different
faiths to understand and respect each other and to live in
peace and with a sense of contributing to a society rooted
in shared values.
b) Structured inter faith encounter and dialogue
I
now turn from informal to more structured opportunities for
inter faith encounter and dialogue.
i)
The first kind I will touch on is what one might call the
"dialogue of religious scholars". Theirs is the
task to discuss in depth specific matters of doctrine or difficult
aspects of shared religious history. Generally speaking, such
dialogues tend only to involve two or three religions because
they have particular issues they wish to discuss. Probably
the best known examples are of Jewish-Christian dialogue where
scholars of both traditions have tried to explore the different
understandings in each of their traditions of topics such
as the nature of salvation and the figure of Jesus. In recent
decades, other in depth dialogues have blossomed: Buddhist-Christian
dialogue and Jain-Jewish dialogue just to name two. You will
know of many others.
ii)
A second kind of structured opportunity for inter faith dialogue
and encounter is provided by the meetings, conferences and
congresses of inter faith organisations and faith linked organisations.
On the international scene, events are held, for example,
by the Council for a Parliament of World Religions, the World
Conference on Religion and Peace, the United Religions Initiative
and, of course, IARF to name but a few. After this congress
has finished there will be a meeting here of representatives
of the growing number of different international inter faith
organisations and some of you may be interested to talk with
Sandy and Jael Bharat of the International Interfaith Centre
which is organising this meeting and which coordinates the
International Interfaith Network. They can tell you about
many opportunities for becoming involved in international
inter faith work.
At
a national level there are increasingly, in many countries,
also structured opportunities for inter faith encounter and
dialogue provided by faith community linked bodies, such as
Christians Aware and Rissho Kosekai and by inter faith organisations
such as the Inter-Religious Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina
and the Inter-Religious Council of Sierra Leone. Here I would
like to use my own country's experience as an example. As
I mentioned a little earlier, I have worked since 1990 for
the Inter Faith Network for the United Kingdom. This was set
up in 1987 to promote good relations between the different
faith communities in the UK. We are an "organisation
of organisations" linking nearly a hundred member bodies.
These include:
§ the representative bodies of the Baha'i, Buddhist,
Christian, Hindu, Jain, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh and Zoroastrian
religions in Britain
They also include:
§ national inter faith organisations
§ local inter faith groups and inter faith councils from
towns and cities around Britain
§ as well as educational and academic bodies with an
interest in inter faith issues
Over
the last fifteen years the Inter Faith Network has held meetings
on many different topics, such as "faith and service
to the community", the role of women in the faith communities,
and inter faith relations and young people.
We
also hold smaller meetings for particular types of member
body, such as the representative organisations of the different
religions. In these smaller meetings, more detailed discussions
can take place, for example on religious dimensions of legislation
that the Government may be planning. There has been discussion
recently of possible legislation on religious discrimination
to bring about the necessary enactment under British law of
the recent European Directives designed to end discrimination
in employment on the grounds of race, religion and a range
of other factors. Meetings to discuss such topics are not
"inter faith" meetings in the narrowest sense because
some of the key partners in such discussions are Government
or other outside agencies. Indeed occasionally opportunities
for structured dialogue are set up - not by the faiths or
inter faith organisations - but by external agencies, such
as local government authorities or Government departments.
For example, the Inner Cities Religious Council, with representatives
from the Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim and Sikh faiths,
was established in 1992 to give advice to the UK Government
on inner city issues and this year an Inter Faith Council
for Wales has been established as a subcommittee of the Welsh
National Assembly, chaired by Wales' First Minister Rhodri
Morgan.
Government
initiated initiatives of this kind are examples of the work
in the UK to try to ensure that people of all faiths are able
to contribute to national and local life. Also important are
initiatives which address inclusion at what might be called
the "symbolic" level of life. At the recent Golden
Jubilee celebrations marking 50 years of the reign of Queen
Elizabeth II, the Government and the Royal Household put a
special emphasis on multi faith involvement. A reception was
hosted last month by The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh at
Buckingham Palace for over 700 men and women of different
faiths from all over the UK and during Golden Jubilee visits
this year, the Queen and other members of the royal family
will be visiting one place of worship of each of the major
faiths.
Another
Golden Jubilee event was a special Youth Faith Forum which
the Inter Faith Network helped the Government arrange last
month. 80 young people of different faiths between 16 and
25 from all over the UK came together to discuss growing up
as young people of faith in 21st century Britain and to talk
about how our faiths' teachings call on us to help others,
both within our faith community and in wider society.
The
reception, the royal visits and the youth forum have great
symbolic importance for members of Britain's faith communities
because they have sent a powerful signal to the British people
that the more recently settled faith communities are truly
a part of their country's life and that good relations between
them are tremendously important.
iii)
But to return to the different types of opportunity for structured
inter faith encounter and dialogue, a third and key kind is
local inter faith activity. In Britain, for example, there
are around 100 local inter faith groups and councils. Some
are quite loosely structured groups bringing together any
people of faith who want to belong. Others, as their name
suggests, are councils of faiths with representation from
some or all of the faiths in their area. Local inter faith
organisations bring together people of different faiths in
their area to learn more about each other's faiths, to discuss
issues of common concern, and - increasingly - to give input
to local government and service providers on religious issues.
For example, a number of groups have helped their local hospital
develop chaplaincy services and catering to suit the needs
of patients of different faiths.
In
the wake of serious social unrest in some of England's northern
cities last summer, increasing attention is being given by
the UK Government to how local inter faith organisations can
contribute to building bridges between the various religious
and ethnic groups in the different towns and cities. At this
Congress is a representative from Luton Council of Faiths,
Shanthi Hettiararchchi, whose Council is a very good example
of one which is working with its local government structures
and agencies and I hope those of you who are interested will
have a chance to talk with him.
iv)
A fourth type of inter faith encounter and dialogue is when
people of different faiths come together specifically to work
on particular projects or to discuss particular topics. Joint
projects have great potential to deepen understanding between
participants: working side by side gives people a real chance
to get to know each other and develop relationships of trust.
These can be very simple projects, like coming together to
improve a deserted piece of land or paint a community centre,
or more complex ones like joint faith community initiatives
to respond to the needs of refugees or provide help for the
homeless or to work to help people beat drug addiction. In
one of the inter faith workshops tomorrow, participants will
be brainstorming about ideas for inter faith projects in their
regions or faiths and I expect there will be many new and
inspiring ideas to take forward after the conference.
At
international level, another significant example of a topic/project
led inter faith project is IARF's present project developing
a voluntary code of conduct for all religious communities.
Through this process of drafting and discussion, a very particular
dialogue will be set in process. This kind of work gives people
an opportunity to come to know each other's perspectives very
well. Indeed in some ways the process of working together
on a document is almost as important as the outcome. The journey
matters as much as the destination.
4) Some issues and questions
I
move now to my last section: special issues and questions.
I would like to touch first on the issue of "process".
a)
Process
In
all forms of inter faith encounter and dialogue the nature
of the process is crucial. Good inter faith encounter and
discussion needs careful ground rules. Positive encounter
and dialogue is about a process where participants:
§ listen respectfully to each other
§ express and explore any differences in a courteous
way
§ do not compare the best points of their own tradition
and practices with the worst points of other peoples (sadly
more common than you might think!)
and
it is a process where they:
§ allow other participants to express what they value
and believe in their own terms
In
the code, Building Good Relations with People of Different
Faiths and Beliefs, which you were sent with your conference
pack, you will see a list of the points which the Inter Faith
Network for the UK's member bodies think are vital guidelines
for inter faith discussion. Many other organisations around
the world have produced their own guidelines. Although the
various guidelines differ, they are all addressing the same
very basic and important questions: What will enable people
to learn the most? To be heard the best? To talk in a spirit
of cooperation? To avoid causing insult?
In
the workshops tomorrow those of you who have chosen the inter
faith workshop will be talking about guidelines but I would
like to single out one point in particular for comment today,
namely that inter faith encounter is not synonymous with evangelism
or proselytism. When people talk to each other about religious
matters there is always the possibility that their views may
change. Very occasionally someone may even change their religion.
However, it is not appropriate for religious groups to use
dialogue situations to target participants for conversion,
as Christians and some other groups have occasionally been
accused of doing. The ground rules of any dialogue need to
make it very clear that this is unacceptable. That is not
to say that one cannot speak with passionate conviction about
one's faith - just that it is not right to enter into inter
faith dialogue with the express intention of converting people
to your faith.
I
would also want to emphasise, in terms of process, the particular
importance of slow and steady consultation in setting up any
new inter faith initiative, especially when setting up formal
national, regional or local inter faith structures. Conversations
with possible members about the membership, aims and structures
will inevitably take time. There has to be immense care if
all the key players are to be brought on board and if there
is to be mutual understanding about the ethos and purposes
of the organisation. The earth must be well tilled and the
seedlings well tended for the shoots to grow strongly and
the flowers to bloom.
b) Who comes to the table of dialogue?
Now,
let me move from the picture or metaphor of the garden of
the flowers of many faiths to that of the council table. A
rather less beautiful thought perhaps! But one prompted by
the fact that a particularly thorny question, in contexts
where inter faith initiatives are set up to be "representative",
is the question "who comes to the table of dialogue?"
Would
the organisers of an international dialogue, for example -
as is often the case - just invite representatives of the
religions which are sometimes called the "historic"
faiths or the "scriptural" religions - the ones
that have been in existence for at least a couple of hundred
years and have written religious texts or "scriptures"?
Dialogues are often just between such religions. But what
of religions such as that of the Bahai's which, while no longer
new, came into formal existence relatively recently in the
19th century? And what of the religions which, while ancient,
are not organised into formal structures and have few or no
early sacred writings because their sacred transmission has
been mainly oral or visual, such as the indigenous religions
of the Aboriginal people of Australia or the native Americans?
And what, indeed, of groups which have a disputed relationship
to the historical tradition from which they grew: for example
the Ahmaddiyas, who understand themselves as Muslims but are
disowned by nearly all other Muslims as heretical?
Now
I should say at this point that some here may think that "who
comes to the dialogue table" is a non question. Indeed
it is one that people can get quite angry about and think
should not be asked. "Why," they may say, "Surely
anyone who wants should be allowed to be involved?".
All very well on the face of it but a statement that an event
is to be utterly inclusive is likely to ensure heavy participation
from universalist inclusivists but almost to guarantee the
non participation of the more conservative strands of the
historic faiths. After all, "Universalists" are
themselves a "particular" strand and one that does
not always sit comfortably with more "exclusivist"
forms of faith! Similarly, some of the older religions, for
example, rarely agree to be part of a process where the really
new religious movements such as Scientology are at the table.
And the prospect of Pagans at the dialogue table can lead
some Christian Churches, Muslim organisations and others to
stay away.
Each
situation is, of course, different. An informal organisation
set up to explore spirituality in different traditions may
flourish with a completely open door policy because it is
about spiritual quest rather than representative "religious
politics". But by contrast, organisers setting up a national
inter faith organisation with a public role in a multi faith
country, may want to involve first and foremost the largest
faith communities and organisers and be willing to leave out
small controversial groups whose presence could drive the
main faiths away. This is because unless the main faiths are
actively involved, there is little chance of this kind of
organisation flourishing in its intended role. So, decisions
about the pattern of involvement usually have to be taken
or they often take themselves by default with some faiths
opting out or fading quietly out of the picture because others
have been allowed in. We have to recognise reality and decide
how to deal with it if we are to achieve our particular goal.
Each
country, each region or city will have a different faith make
up and in each context, different decisions will be taken
about who comes to the dialogue table. There is no right or
wrong answer but each answer inevitably has its consequences.
I
should add, though, that flourishing inter faith initiatives
around the globe prove that we are all finding ways to surmount
the challenges on this front!
c)
Liberals and conservatives.
Next
a comment about liberals and conservatives - in some ways,
bedfellows as uncomfortable as Pagans and Evangelical Christians!
Inter faith dialogue and encounter is a microcosm of the wider
political spectrum and of the wider pattern of human nature.
Liberals and conservatives of all the faiths are involved
in different ways. Liberals are at home in dialogue that is
open to far ranging discussion about the issues of modern
life and tend to believe their faiths need to respond to this
by reinterpreting the meaning of fundamental principles in
an evolving context. They will be happy to open up the dialogue
table to a wider range of partners but they sometimes find
it difficult to deal with firmly conservative positions, particularly
on topics such as the role of women or homosexuality.
The
conservative involvement in inter faith encounter and dialogue
is rather like that of participants in a stately dance where
no one touches and everyone's space is respected. Conservatives
will come together so that their religions can make common
cause on particular issues or so that particularly burning
issues can be discussed. The parameters for dialogue are likely
to reflect a more exclusivist notion of whether salvation
or enlightenment can be found through a religious tradition
other than one's own and also a strong sense that one's own
tradition and its practices are not likely to alter or change
in response to encounter with other faiths. Such participants
are particularly sensitive to the risk that inter faith encounter
leads to syncretism or compromises their faith. Any inter
faith initiative genuinely wanting to bring conservatives
into the circle of dialogue within the faiths needs to reassure
them that they will not have to compromise or water down their
tradition.
d)
Another very important issue I would like to pick up is that
of the involvement of women. In local inter faith groups and
informal inter faith initiatives there are nearly always as
many if not more women than men. However the majority of religious
leaders at international, national and local level are men.
This means that most inter faith encounter and dialogue of
an official kind has a strongly male make up. What can get
lost is the views and experiences of women. So when developing
inter faith projects, a very worthwhile and important question
to ask is "How shall we make sure women are active participants".
e)
And my last special issue or question is a very practical
one. The most frequent question we hear from individual enquirers
to the Inter Faith Network is "I am interested by inter
faith issues and I think they are very important. What can
I do?". Here are a few thoughts on this:
§ People are sometimes nervous because they do not feel
very knowledgeable about other faiths or inter faith work.
Don't be nervous - there are many initiatives out there that
would love to have your involvement. Or there may be new initiatives
just waiting for you to help start them!
§ It is helpful to find out just what is already out
there. At the Inter Faith Network, we encourage enquirers
to find out through their faith community or through their
local information resources what inter faith bodies exist
in their areas or within their religious tradition. There
is, of course, no point in reinventing the wheel. Where there
is nothing, there is a chance to think about what might be
good to bring into existence: perhaps a local council of faiths,
perhaps a national one. Maybe a dialogue on spirituality or
maybe a special inter faith youth conference. There are many
possibilities.
§ Many books and journals are out there which can give
information and advice but ultimately it is people who make
the difference: people who work and volunteer their time to
help on inter faith projects; people who cook and bring their
faith's special dishes for inter faith meals; people who are
willing to speak to inter faith groups about their own faith
tradition; people who spend many hours quietly peacemaking
between groups in their areas. In the language of my own tradition,
blessed are the peacemakers. It is one of the greatest tasks.
There
are many more issues that could be discussed, but I would
now like to draw to a close.
5) Challenges and possibilities
I
have spoken of some of the different types of inter faith
initiatives: structured or informal; international, national
or local. I have explored some of the complex issues involved
in ensuring that these can flourish and make a significant
contribution to their localities, countries and the wider
world. I have not skirted the harder issues because inter
faith dialogue and encounter work is not easy, but I would
like to end on a positive note by reiterating my opening point:
that inter faith dialogue and encounter is enormously important.
It can make a real difference to our societies and to our
wider global community. Men and women of different faiths
can and must find ways to live in respectful harmony, able
to talk honestly about differences but to build societies
rooted in values held in common among the faiths. In face
of the threat of prejudice and the entwined evils of religious
and racial bigotry and conflict we have a challenge to work
for understanding and peace. And in face of the global scourges
of poverty, war and limitation to freedom for many peoples
and individuals, we have a united challenge to find ways for
our faiths to work in every land where they are present to
make common cause for justice and peace.
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