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The Ironies of Interfaith Work

24/10/2014

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This has been an interesting week interfaith wise. Today is the feast of Diwali, the feast of lights which celebrates the victory of good over evil and a time of family get- togethers for the HIndu community.  As usual the Pontifical Council of Interreligious Dialogue sent out its customary letter of greetings to Hindu communities throughout the world.  The theme of the letter seemed a bit strange to me. 

The letter recognises
increasing discrimination, violence and exclusion throughout the world,  and calls on both Christians and Hindus to nurture "a culture of inclusion" which " can be rightly seen as one of the most genuine aspirations of people everywhere".  It looks as though what is being talked about is social inclusion -  the need to counteract the "globalisation of indifference" to use the words of Pope Francis  which "makes us
power-hungry and indifferent to the rights, needs and sufferings of others and leads to a "culture of exclusion", indications of which are " the exploitation of children and women, the neglect of the elderly, sick, differently-abled, migrants and refugees, and the persecution of minorities".   While there's no doubt that religions are united in their desire to care for the poor and the marginalised and It's right that Hindus and Christians should cooperate in this enterprises , I felt there was just a tone of preaching about the letter. 

Inclusion is an interesting idea when it comes to religion. Like families all religions are exclusive. Every religion, while respecting and upholding the beliefs of other religions,  believes that its teachings and practices are the best way to whatever they take to be the goal of life.  People are initiated into  them, educated into the meaning of festivals and religious rites and often participation ( but not necessarily attendance) in religious rites is  closed to those who have not been initiated into the community  or for whom the ceremonies mean nothing. I have sat outside some of the holiest  Hindu temples in India because the inner sanctum was closed to non- Hindus.  In these days of equality legislation such exclusion can be frowned upon. In interreligious dialogue we are sometimes told that religions have no right dialoguing with one another without the presence of other non-religious belief groups. This can in fact militate  against religious freedom and it's obvious that in our daily life we engage in difference kinds of dialogues. The conversations we have with family, neighbours, friends, colleagues are qualitatively different based on our common bond and interest.

Why the letter to the Hindu community struck me as strange was because it was published at the same time as  the document from the Synod on the Family, convened by Pope Francis. Against the hopes of many people the document was not  inclusive, continuing to exclude  from the sacraments any Catholic who has been divorced and remarried. Many people had hoped for greater openness than this but it's only an interim report for reflection and discussion and the final statement of the Synod stressed a welcome for all in the Church.

Another interfaith event which was not without its own irony was a conference on Peace and Unity.  There were a number of speakers from religious and civic life, all talking of the need for peace amongst religions, of the need to talk out against atrocities carried out in the name of religion, of witnessing to true religion in the world. There was a good, friendly atmosphere.   However, there was a little bit of an upset when someone objected to a remark which suggested discrimination and persecution of a religious community. One of the objections was that this community was regarded as a political party rather than a religion.  It's  not for me to debate the rights and wrongs of this but it did strike me how easy it is to dialogue only with those with whom one is comfortable, to judge another community without having listened its story.  It's easy to talk about  peace and unity at a surface level. What's the point of a conference about peace and unity when a remark exposes the reality which is that often we judge and refuse  others the right to be who they say they are.  But it's good that that reality is faced up to. There's a danger that  interreligous dialogue can remain at a surface level - a tiger with no teeth as someone once said. 

But it need not remain at that level. It can be a real contribution to peace and unity if we have the courage, determination and desire to face up to the difficult questions, to expose our fears and prejudices and be prepared to meet members of other faiths and outlooks as fellow human beings striving, as we all are, to lead as good a life as we  can.


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A Crazy World

13/10/2014

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The news continues to tell us of disasters from the Ebola virus to the advances of the Islamic State and it looks as though the world has gone mad.  And for an  ordinary person like me it feels as though we can do nothing about it. The Ebola virus is a natural phenomenon but terrorist activities are firmly in the hand of human beings.  What is it that drives them?  Is it an ideal which once delivered will make the world a better place?  Is it fear of those who are different?  Is it lack of understanding of the other?  Is it arrogance that thinks their way is the only way and their truth the complete and absolute truth? Is it pure and simple hatred, a lust for power and a desire to feel superior to others?  Who knows.  For sure some of the young people, who are leaving loving homes to go to Syria to fight for the Islamic State, are fired with an ideal that in their eyes is worth fighting for and even dying for. Are they all that different from the young men who travelled to Spain to fight fascism in the 1930s.

Ove
r 2,000 volunteers went from the UK  to fight in the Spanish Civil War. Over 500 died in the conflict, 65 of whom came from own home town of Glasgow. We even have a statue, La Passionara, commemorating them. It has the inscription  "Better to die on your feet that live for ever on your knees"  At its rededication a few years ago the leader to Glasgow City Council said "With this memorial, we pay homage to a group of extraordinary men and women who, more than 70 years ago, gave up the certainties of their everyday lives to travel to a country in the grip of violent turmoil.  We remember sons and daughters of Glasgow who stood in defiance of fascism and in defence of democracy and freedom." 

Because we believe their cause was a just one we proclaim rather than condemn them.  But it does put into perspective the small number of British young people who have joined the Islamic State.  Perhaps they think that Islam has been brought to its knees through the superiority of the West and to fight the West is the only way to regain dignity and respect. To die for a cause is a good thing and all religions revere their martyrs but it is easy to let an ideology lead us to hate the other.  One Glasgow volunteer wrote “I am writing this on the eve of going into action against fascism ....... whenever I see thousands of Spanish children streaming along the road away from the fascists, my thoughts revert back home, and I can see you and your brothers in the same circumstances if we don’t smash the fascist monsters here.” So easy to turn others into monsters.

And yet we are told in Christianity to forgive, to remember that we are all brothers and sisters made in the image of God, that we will be forgiven only in respect of our ability to forgive others.  Buddhism and Judaism teach that anger and revenge hurts the perpetrator.  As the Buddha said, 
“Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else but you are the one who gets burned”  and the Jerusalem Talmud, "Who takes vengeance or bears a grudge acts like one who, having cut one hand while handling a knife, avenges himself by stabbing the other hand.” (Nedarim 9.4).  This does not mean that we do not stand up for justice. We must be honest in condemning injustice and be vigilant in working for peace and justice but it does mean doing so in a spirit of love and compassion.  The
Qur'an tells us “Although the just penalty for an injustice is an equivalent retribution, those who pardon and maintain righteousness are rewarded by God. He does not love the unjust” (42:40). And the  Bhagavad Gita tells how we must engage in spiritual battles but in a spirit of detachment. How difficult that is.

This year is the 70th anniversary of the founding of Pax Christi, a peace organisation begun by a French priest and a laywoman. Reading of its origins I was struck that both of them realised the need for peace in the midst of war but also the need to pray for 'the enemy'.  It struck me that I had not prayed for IS or the young people who have gone to join them. I don't expect many of us have.  Would it make a difference to us and to our approach to what is happening in our mad world if we did?


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    I am  a Catholic nun, involved in interfaith relations for many decades.  For me this has been an exciting and sacred journey which I would like to share with others.

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