Interfaith Dialogues: A Good Thing??

I teach courses in Judaism, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism.  I, obviously, think learning about what others believe is helpful.  Engaging someone else’s religious beliefs can help you understand what they believe and why they believe it.   

While getting along is a good thing, the point of such learning should not be figuring out a way to be friends,  good as that might be.  Jews, Christians and Muslims have competing revelations.  The point of listening to each other is to learn how each of our religious traditions proclaims its truths.  In this way, we can better learn how to argue with each other.  Argument is not a bad thing.  In Jewish tradition argument is a way to apprehend the truth.   Through argument we learn the strengths and weaknesses of their beliefs as well as our own.  The argument is more important than its resolution.

In studying another’s religion, there are two extremes we need to avoid.  On the one hand, religious absolutism argues, there is only one right way to be religious.  On the other extreme, religious relativism says, all religious points of view are equally valid.  These approaches miss the point. 

The point is to embrace your own religious tradition, defend its theological and ethical truths, listen carefully to the articulated truths of other traditions, and ask yourself how can my beliefs benefit or get stronger by taking the critique of others seriously. You can ask yourself, "Where is my tradition helpful and where is it unhelpful?

The goal of interfaith discussions is not to get along.  It is to learn how to be honest, respectful, and seriously engage your own and another religious tradition. By the way, as you engage in this process, you may become close friends with those you come to respect.