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The team on interreligious relations promotes contact between Christians and neighbours of other faiths primarily through multi-lateral and bi-lateral dialogue with partners of other faiths that is aimed at building trust, meeting common challenges and addressing conflictive and divisive issues.
An increasingly important aspect of the team's work is to interpret major trends in the religious, intellectual and political life of various faith communities and to consider the future of religion and interreligious relations.
In partnership with other WCC programme teams, the team on interreligious
relations seeks to encourage reflection on religious plurality and its
significance for Christian identity and witness. The team also explores
issues related to indigenous beliefs, traditional spiritual beliefs/ideologies and new religious movements.
The primary methodology of the WCC's work on interreligious relations
remains dialogue. During the past years, the WCC has organised a number
of Hindu-Christian, Christian-Muslim, Buddhist-Christian, and Jewish-Christian
dialogues at the international and regional levels.
The progress of these dialogues as well as articles highlighting local efforts are published in the bi-annual Current Dialogue. The WCC has also published a study guide, My Neighbour's Faith and Mine, which has been translated into numerous languages and is used by churches around the world.
Among the team's present foci are:
MY NEIGHBOUR'S FAITH AND MINE Religious identities : For better or for worse? 12-14 November 2005 WEBSITE |
A group of people from different religions, active in interfaith work, came together in Hong Kong (April 2002) to discuss criteria for multifaith work and initiatives. During their meeting they went together to a Taoist Temple in Hong Kong
A Buddhist,
Hindu, Christian, Jew and Muslim take part in a panel at the World Consultation
"Diakonia 2000 -- Called to be Neighbours" (WCC/Michael Dominguez)
(WCC/John
Taylor)
historical note
Interest in a Christian approach to
people of other faiths can already be seen in the New Testament. In the
book of Acts, Peter, responding to the realities of a multi-faith context,
says to the gentile Cornelius, "I truly understand that God shows no partiality,
but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable
to him" (Acts 10.34-35).
This basic understanding of God's direct access to all people echoes what is asserted in the Hebrew scriptures by the prophet Malachi when he says, "For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name is great among the nations, and in every place incense is offered to my name, and a pure offering for my name is great among the nations says the Lord of hosts (Malachi 1.11).
It is in this light that people within the modern ecumenical movement have been trying to grasp the meaning of their obedience to the gospel in a world of many religions and cultures. Historically, these concerns have been pursued from the perspective of mission and evangelism, beginning with the World Missionary Conference held at Edinburgh (1910), then through the International Missionary Council, and later within the WCC through the Commission on World Mission and Evangelism.
In 1971 a sub-unit within the WCC was formed to promote dialogue between people of living faiths. A major landmark in this area came in 1977 at a meeting in Chiang Mai, Thailand where a group of Christians representing many different ecclesiastical traditions drew up Guidelines on Dialogue. These guidelines serve as the basis of interreligious dialogue sponsored by the WCC and many churches around the world.
Taking stock of some thirty years of experience of interreligious dialogue within the WCC, a document entitled Ecumenical Considerations for Dialogue and Relations with People of other Religions was produced. This document was received by the WCC Central Committee in 2002.
present context We stand at the historic moment when the Christian theological tradition
must take full account of the experiences of those who have been living
for centuries in religiously plural societies, as well as of the convictions
of those who are newly stimulated by the broadening religious plurality
of their surroundings. Our experience in dialogue suggests strongly that
many "classical" Christian theological presuppositions and convictions
need to be informed and challenged afresh by the realities of our times.
During the last few decades, questions
about religious and cultural pluralism have attracted renewed interest
in the churches. Everywhere there is a fresh sense of urgency to build
creative relationships between peoples of differing faiths. As interest
in dialogue has grown, so has its actual practice, enabling various religious
communities to understand one another better and to work more closely
together. Here are but a few examples:
People engaged in dialogue have felt their own faith challenged and deepened
by the new dimensions of religious life which they have observed, and many
find in interreligious encounter a new impetus for doing theology and reviving
spirituality. Communities in dialogue function as the leaven in the larger
community, facilitating the creation of a society transcending religious
barriers.
kinds of dialogue
Very often people associate dialogue only with formal conversations between
two groups. In actual fact, many different kinds of dialogue take place
and it is important to recognize the value of this .The most common is
the dialogue of life
that goes on in all situations of plurality. Christians, Muslims, Jews,
Hindus, Buddhists, people of many different faiths in fact, live and work
together sharing a common life. Even though these dialogues go unnoticed
and are not consciously religious, we should recognize their importance
in the building up of human relationships. A similar dialogue also takes
place where people of different traditions come together to struggle for
justice,peace, human rights and other issues that concern the entire society .
Organized dialogue is of three types. The most common, multi-lateral and bi-lateral dialogues, are where representative groups of people come together to discuss a subject relevant to the communities concerned. The relationship of religion to the family, to education, to the state, etc. has been one subject of discussion encouraged by the WCC between Christians and Muslims in recent years (bi-lateral dialogue). On the other hand, a multi-lateral dialogue in India dealt with the theme of "Religious Identity in a Multi-Faith Society"; its main aim was to deal with the problem of increased violence between religious factions in India. In addition to clarifying points of differences, such dialogues hope to facilitate the building up of trust and openness between religious groups.
A second type of organized dialogue could be called academic dialogue where exponents of different religious faiths meet and discuss the theological/philosophical bases of their traditions. Here genuine attempts are made to arrive at a common appreciation of the way in which each religious tradition has sought to explain and approach reality. These dialogues help in breaking down prejudices and misconceptions accumulated over centuries. They enrich, enlarge, challenge and correct the way some religions have understood and approached religious life in other traditions.
Yet another form of dialogue may be described as spiritual dialogue. Here believers attempt to meet each other, as it were, in the "cave of the heart". They expose themselves to each other's spiritual and worship life. Often such dialogues take the form of participating in the prayer or mediation practices of others. This type of dialogue remains controversial because Christians are not agreed on whether it is possible to participate in the spiritual life of their neighbours without compromising their own faith.
