Interfaith


I have been involved in interfaith activities for decades. I have found that the people who most need to hear the message of interfaith cooperation are the ones most closed to (fearful of) it.

I figure that those who are against interfaith activities fear that it can lead one astray from commitment to one's own faith. It might lead them astray, or lead them to question their faith, perhaps because, on a sub-conscious level, they fear they are weak in their faith.

As a practical response to criticism of involvement in interfaith activities, I might say: "well, no one is forcing you to be involved but I find it personally enriching and no threat to my faith."

More typically, I find that people involved in interfaith dialogue are "preaching to the choir." A disdain for religion in general from anti-religion atheists. And a fear of interfaith cooperation by religious exclusivists. "Why are they against this?" may also be a call for us to verbalize why we find this so important.

A threat to their own spiritual security: "if other religions are just as valid as mine, what does that do to my sense of salvation found in my own faith? What if they are right and I have been wrong all along?" Wouldn't it be better to learn you are wrong and correct your views rather than continue on in ignorance, thinking you are right when you are not? And also, if your faith really is as strong as you think it is, why fear opening yourself to learning about other religions rather than preaching they are wrong? Again, maybe some unconscious fear that their faith is not as strong as they like to think it is.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Religious Intolerance: Causes and Solutions, some observations

Why do people of different religions seem to hate each other so much? Perhaps because they are simply ignorant of how much they really have in common! I generally find that intolerance is a result of ignorance, and such ignorance and intolerance is often passed down to the next generation when people in positions of authority (parents, teachers, etc.) remain ignorant. Ignorance often leads to fear, fear can lead to hate, and hate can lead to violence. Knowledge is the key to avoid going down this path. Conflict between people of different religions may begin with simple ignorance. People who do not really know anything about other religions just assume the others are very different. They are not aware that many religions share the same basic ideas. Thus these people assume that the other religions must be wrong. Some people have the idea that "if my religion is right then you and yours must be wrong (and we can't let people go around thinking they know the truth when they do...
Read more

When I was an agnostic…

I was also anti-religion. In hindsight, I can now say it was because religion frustrated me. To be specific, it was the question of God’s existence that frustrated me. Or, more precisely, not being able to find an answer to the question is what frustrated me. I was in high school when it came to a head, when I gave up trying to find that elusive answer.   It followed me into college. Religion was not just something I “would not touch with a ten foot pole.” It was something I consciously and intentionally ran from, went out of my way to avoid. But I do feel that secretly – even hiding if from myself – I wanted to be religious; I wanted to believe. Now, when I come across an anti-religion atheist – you know, those outspoken “evangelical” atheist types who argue the “evils” of religion and the “childish silliness” of God belief – I believe that they do are as I was – a frustrated “want to” believer. All their anti-religion, anti-God talk is their way of reinforcing their...
Read more

Eastern Philosophy for Westerners

by Laura Ellen Shulman - Dec. '85   "Why do bad things happen to good people?" is a common question asked by Westerners. This situation is cause for much religious doubt in traditions based on a concept of an all good and just God. "If God is good why is there evil in the world which God created?" It is not justice when good people suffer. Job asks the same question and discovers that "his is not to reason why, his is but to do or die" without questioning what he cannot comprehend. The question is asked by all people in all times and places. Our solutions to the problem are diverse. When the philosophers of ancient India asked the question they came up with a much more psychologically satisfying answer. The Indian answer to the question is the basis of all later Indian religious development (including Jain and Buddhist as well as Hindu) while the Western "answer" continues to make religion very hard for many people to hold on to.   Indian Wor...
Read more