Friday, June 2, 2017

Jews, Christians and Muslims: Can We Trust Each Other?


We have three competing monotheistic revelations in the world.  Each community trusts the revelation they possess to be the historical truth received from God.  And within each community there are different interpretations, all vying with each other to accurately articulate the revelatory truth at the heart of the tradition. This we know.

Some, inside and outside these different religions, want to emphasize what unites rather than what divides the respective believers.  Others are sure their religion is right and all the rest are wrong.  Still others say we will not know who is right until we come face to face with God, assuming there is a God, so, they argue, let’s try and get along for now.

But the goal is not to get along.  The goal is not to assert you are right and the other guy is wrong.  After all, there are theological and ethical areas where caring Jews, Christians and Muslims can agree.  Good!   Where we can work together, let us do so.  But,  there are places where we are compelled to disagree.  That’s fine as well.  We must learn to disagree, to argue respectfully without holding a grudge, to learn to ask what does the other person believe and why do they believe it?  Ultimately, the goal is to listen, engage, and when necessary, respectfully disagree. 

The reason this is so hard to do is it requires trust, trust that you really want to get to know and listen to me and are not out to convert me.  And, at the same time, you need to trust that I am not out to get you. Establishing such trust between people of different religions is not easy.  It takes, time, effort and commitment on both sides.  It is easier to disagree, distrust and dismiss the other side rather than think they have something of value to teach me. 

Invest the time to get to know and listen to someone of a different religion.  You will find that your own faith will become deeper, clearer and wiser.  I know this, because it happened to me.

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