Interfaith Dialogue

Q: what is interfaith dialogue? How can interfaith dialogue be a success?

A. Interfaith dialogue is an encounter or conversation between two or more people from different faith or belief positions or religious traditions. It is a conversation or encounter that begins with a willingness to listen, to respect and to learn. Quite often it begins when someone with a fixed or conservative faith position suddenly realises, often by meeting someone from another faith who touches or inspires them, that there is some correspondence of truth and meaning, whatever differences may still prevail. It is a realisation that the other person has been nurtured and shaped by her faith tradition into something that is good and positive with transcendent possibilities, something that is not in any way inferior to one's own nurturing and shaping.

This is what Sri Swami Satchidananda, Founder, Lotus Center of World Faiths, wrote about it as part of an article for an International Interfaith Centre Newsletter:

"We are all bound to each other; and at the same time, we are all afraid of each other. Interfaith dialogue can help us understand that we are all interconnected. It can help us build bridges and gain greater understanding of these truths. Then, we will no longer consider fighting as a solution to our problems. Instead, we will want to reach out to each other. We will want to be friends. It would be a greater freedom to stop hiding behind our arms and bravely stretch out a hand and offer an open heart.

We should rise above all the differences and see our spiritual oneness; we should learn to love each other and to always appreciate the nice things that people do. When we come together in the name of dialogue, we should not always be pinpointing the mistakes of others. Instead, if you keep on talking about the good things, you will forget all the superficial differences that divide us. We do not need to label or deny people because of our differences. If you go a little deeper, where is the black and where is the white? Where is the yellow and where is the brown? The spirit has no black or white or yellow or brown. This is the real spiritual life: talking in terms of spirit, loving in terms of spirit. That is the real spirit of dialogue, union or communion.We cannot have communion with God without having communion with our fellow beings.

Many people say to me, "The world is going to collapse at any moment". I do not think so. I consider this a transitory period. We are witnessing a great change. I see a very bright future for humankind and I really feel we are going to see a better world. In fact, we are seeing it already. I am a person who travels constantly around the globe. Wherever I go, I see an increasing openness to interfaith dialogue and commitment to world peace. I have confidence in the international interfaith movement. I believe in the people who are sowing the seeds of health and happiness, of peace and goodness. This world is going to be filled with people who love each other, care for each other, and together build peace through better understanding."

You can read a lot more about interfaith dialogue at our website www.interfaithstudies.org It was set up some years ago and needs some updating and editing but might still be useful or interesting to you. Also, in our book, A Global Guide to Interfaith: Reflections from around the world, over 100 interfaith activists and academics write about their experience and understanding of interfaith dialogue and it's related themes.

Interfaith dialogue already is a success in that it is changing lives and situations everywhere. However, it's success is still minimal in a global sense as many still do not know about, cannot relate to its aspirations and do not have access to its resources. If you are interested in widening the outreach of interfaith dialogue and making it more successful, get involved. Have a look at this page to see if any of the links are relevant to you (for example the United Religions Initiative which has Cooperation Circles around the world):
http://interfaithinfo.net/Questions/QAaboutstartinginterfaithgroup.htm