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Inter Religious Dialogue (IRD)
Rev. Duleep de Chickera
Rev. Duleep began the session with the question, "Why are we considering Inter-Religious Dialogue?" He suggested 3 reasons as to why Inter Religious Dialogue (IRD) is on the agenda of the Church at present.
1. There is already a creative tension in
the church.
Christians hold different views on Inter Religious Dialogue and thus we need to hear from each other.
2. Human Issues
There are common issues that call for co-operation amongst religions, i.e. issues of gender, environment, peace, human rights. Such common human issues bring people of different religions together.
3. Social mobility/ mobility
People are moving from country to country for reasons such as war, poverty, labor etc.
Contemporary attitudes in Inter Religious Dialogue
1. Attitude of hostility/ fear.
2. Indifference
3. Aggressive evangelism, to conquer the others.
4. Some co-operation, some trust from time to time.
5. Dialogue and mutual learning that see both sides giving and learning from each other.
Religions in
Group
work: Participants were asked to list down two religions in their
country. Two members of each group were asked to present 2 short stories from
another religion.
Some of the things that were shared in the presentation of the stories of the other religion were:
· Ancestral Worship
· Aboriginal spirituality
· Druid
· Folk religion
· Mormon
· Maori
· Primal religion
· Rizalistas
· Shintoism
· Taoism
· Wiccan
· Yorhreh
· Buddhism
· Bahai's
· Christian scientist
· Christianity
· Confucianism
· Hinduism
· Islam
· Jainism
· Jewish
· Sikhism
· Zaroastranism
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Discussion
In the face of
the existence of several religions in
1) Those who believe that there are many religions, many Gods.
2) Those who believe that there are many religions but only one God.
How do these positions reconcile? Rev. Duleep pointed out that there is no need to talk about the Hindu, Christian, Muslim God but one God from different understandings. Another difficult question is on ancestral worship. However, the challenge is its similarity to the communion of saints in Christianity.
Rev. Duleep put forth another question, "Will God destroy any part of its creation?" It is pointed out that if we understand history as both cyclic and linear for the individual and humanity, God's grace offers fresh chances. Connecting with the understanding of God, it can be linear or cyclic, so that, our understanding of human history can also be seen as "turns around" and "moves forward".
Biblical Perspective on Inter Religious
Dialogue
Participants were divided into groups and were given texts from the Bible to be analyzed.
There were two main focuses: to analyze Jesus' attitude to people of other faiths and analyze texts that challenge the assured understanding. This means studying reversed texts using the hermeneutics of suspicion.
Group
Question 1: What do we learn from these texts about Jesus' attitude to
non-Jews.
Texts: Luke 17:11-19; Matthew 15: 21-28, Luke 7: 1-10, Luke 4: 16-30
Group
Question 2: What reversed teaching do these texts offer?
Texts: Matthew 7: 15-23, Matthew 25: 31-45, Matthew 5: 3-10, Luke 18: 9-14
Reflection
and interaction:
Group 1
What do we learn from these texts about
Jesus' attitude to non-Jews?
This group examined the story of the Samaritan woman who was twice discriminated because she is a woman and because of her ethnicity. This is one of Jesus' few encounters with people outside the Jewish religion. But in this encounter people are set free to accept Jesus with gratitude.
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In the dialogue between Jesus and the woman it was revealed that the Samaritans worshipped on the mountain and the Jews worshipped in the Temple/synagogue. Both of them put forward their views (thesis and antithesis ) and are able to come out with a third option (synthesis). By using the mutual process of Dialogue, Jesus stated that God is worshipped "in spirit and truth".
Rev. Duleep put the question, "What is the task of Jesus Christ?" The task of Jesus Christ was to show God to the humans and to make it possible to be in communion (as an atonement or bridge).
Group 2
What reversed teaching do these texts
offer?
The other story
is about the 10 lepers. Only one came back to thank Jesus and he was not a Jew.
This demonstrated a small but definite step that the non-Jews were capable of
gratitude but the Jews were not. The story of the Centurion in Luke 7: 1-10,
talks about the religiousness of a man outside the Jewish family. Jesus
commended this man by saying, "I tell you that not even in
In the second story, we see the Nazareth Manifesto (Luke 4: 16-30). The congregation at first appreciated Jesus who gave sight to the blind and set the captive and oppressed free. This shows that God's work is not confined to the Jews alone but to other people as well. A gradual humanizing process is built in the attitude of Jesus to people of other faiths. Jesus evolves the following steps:
· Breaking away from the Jewish circle
· Bold and inclusive identity
· Contrasting Israel with the others
· Becoming prophetic
Group 2 first studied Mt 7: 15-23, which projects something very powerful as it states that "you will know people by their fruit". A secular spirituality emphasizes that people meet God in the world. It states that people should not only achieve spirituality from a confined world but also from the outside of its confined boundary. It challenges the traditional method of spirituality which is inward looking. This shows that the renewal should not be done only in our quiet places but also could be done when being with the marginalized.
Another passage this group discussed was the Beatitudes. The Beatitudes
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shows its inclusiveness as it can gather different categories of people into the Blessed Community. We cannot place Christians as the only ones who are blessed as persons of other religions also display these qualities and are worthy for God's blessings.
Biblical Theology affirms that:
1) God is eternal and has no beginning and no end. All history is convered by God.
2) God is omnipresent. God is present everywhere. All Space is covered by God.
3) God is dynamic. Where God is, there is life.
Rev. Duleep explained that when we talk about other cultures, we are talking about human cultures that have been in communion with the living God. God is not limited or exclusive hence, the understanding of Inter Religious Dialogue is a very straight forward one: it means being in touch with people that God has touched.
In John 1: 1, it states that "from the beginning, all things were from God". Today, we need a church of the trinity. Instead of focusing on one aspect of God, we must focus on the whole of God.
Rev. Duleep then introduced different types of Inter-Religious Dialogue:
1) Living Dialogue - Daily experience
2) Personal Inter-Religious Dialogue which comes out of personal interest
3) Formal Inter-Religious Dialogue that includes:
· Academic Inter-Religious Dialogue: To understand God in other religions.
· Meditative Inter-Religious Dialogue: People come together for devotional reasons. Ashrams in Sri Lanka and India serve as a good example. From time to time these groups have been able to discover a common spirituality and move together for constructive action.
· Social issues: Religions working together to address social issues. Sharing resources and announcing a common stand in terms of common needs.
· Crisis Inter-Religious Dialogue: In times of crisis, religions come together but the problem is that it stops the collaboration after the situation changes. Continuation is thus necessary.
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Rev. Duleep offered suggestions on the Attitudes in Inter-Religious Dialogue:
1. We must be affirmative. There is a need to give the fullness of your religion as you understand it.
2. It is good to talk about our own questions and uncertainties.
3. Having disagreements. It is necessary to identify and keep disagreements on the table.
4. In listening to the others you hear echoes of your own religious values.
Finally, we must remember that the objectives of Inter-Religious Dialogue are;
1) To listen to the meaning of God defined by others.
2) The Dialogue is for mutual enrichment.
3) It is for addressing and correcting historical grievances, leading to apologies and the work towards peace, justice and reconciliation.