“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” If ever there was a time when Dickens’ words
ring true for me, they do so this summer.
I have spent much of the summer involved in interfaith dialogue in
Istanbul, Turkey and in Morocco, as part of two different interfaith
conferences and symposia. I reveled in the relationship building and sense of
adventure that is so much a part of interfaith engagement, cherishing my
encounter with the holy as experienced by my Muslim dialogue partners and hosts. I also watched in horror
as violence, much of it fueled by religiously motivated intolerance and hatred,
erupted in Iraq, where Christians had to flee for their lives under threat of
violence by ISIS, and as the tensions between Israel and Gaza exploded once
again into armed conflict. On the one
hand, I experienced first hand the reality that it is possible to build bridges
of understanding and respect between people of different religious and cultural
traditions, even as I watched, yet again, the extent to which religiously motivated
violence and intolerance continues to claim the lives of altogether too many
innocent men, women and children.
Is interfaith dialogue relevant in a world where religiously
motivated violence continues to roil entire geographic and political regions,
leaving thousands of people maimed and murdered? Does the global interfaith movement have
anything to offer to a world still so captivated by political and often violent
approaches to religious, ethnic and cultural difference? I believe the answer to those questions is a
resounding Yes. And I believe that all of us who are committed to interfaith
dialogue in its broadest expression must be intentional about remaining in
relationship and conversation with our dialogue partners of different religious
traditions even when our perceptions of and opinions about what is happening in
the global trouble spots are widely divergent.
We will not become agents of change and peacemaking anywhere in the
world, if we cannot create and maintain peace with those who live in our own
city, neighborhood, workplace or school. In the midst of conflict and struggle we cannot yield to our instinctual "flight or fight" response. We must honor our interfaith relationships by continuing to trust and to endure the pain of our differences.
Interfaith dialogue is all about building committed relationships,
friendships that can endure the tensions of troubled times. It is all about making friends out of
strangers. Interfaith encounter is not
about debating who is right and who is wrong, who is “in” and who is “out” or
who is enlightened and who is backward.
Interfaith encounter is about forming relationships with people who have
a different worldview, a different religious or spiritual or philosophical
approach to our common human experience. Interfaith encounter is about learning
the different narratives that inform how our dialogue partners apprehend the
world and taking the time and effort to try to look through their lens, even if
only briefly. Interfaith dialogue makes it possible to empathize with those who
are embroiled in the worst of the conflicts that are erupting around the
world. Empathy helps us to remember the
humanity of those with whom we disagree and helps to prevent them from becoming
“enemies” whom we can justify demonizing and eradicating.
This summer, I enjoyed the gracious hospitality of Muslims in
Turkey and in Morocco. I experienced the profound spiritual discipline and the
joy that is part of the holy month of Ramadan. I observed prayer in mosques and
in homes, I participated in iftar meals in community centers and private homes,
I visited holy sites, both Christian and Muslim in both countries. I experienced first hand the reality that
Muslims and Christians can and do co-exist respectfully and peacefully in many
places in the world, forming deep and abiding relationships of friendship and
trust.
I returned from Morocco through Amsterdam, where I visited
the Amsterdam museum and saw an exhibit about Dutch converts to Islam and how
these communities of Dutch Muslims are impacting that very secular, yet
nominally Christian European country. I
also visited the Anne Frank house and the Jewish quarter where the history of
the Jews in the Netherlands, particularly during the years of Nazi occupation,
are described in horrifying detail. I
visited “Our Lord in the Attic” church, a Roman Catholic church built on the
third floor and attic of a large stately home of a 17th century
Dutch merchant at a time in history when Roman Catholic churches were outlawed
in the Netherlands and Roman Catholics had to worship secretly in what had
become a stridently Protestant nation. I
observed with dismay the extent to which the conflict in Israel and Gaza is
igniting a resurgence of anti-Semitism in Europe as people ascribe to all Jews
Israel’s political and military actions.
I heard many narratives: narratives of pain and persecution, narratives
of conquest and defeat, narratives of tolerance and acceptance and cooperation,
narratives of war and narratives of peace.
Interfaith encounter opens us to all these narratives and asks us to
accept that all of these stories are true even where they appear to conflict.
So now I return to Rochester and to the work of interfaith
encounter right here in our city and on the University of Rochester
campus. We have a lively and committed
interfaith community in Rochester. The University of Rochester has an active
and growing interfaith student group that includes students from all of our
diverse religious communities at the Interfaith Chapel and students who claim
no religious affiliation. The Interfaith
Chapel is a Cooperation Circle of the United Religions Initiative (URI), a
global grass roots network of interfaith organizations committed to building
bridges of understanding between and among the world’s religious and
philosophical traditions. The purpose of the
URI is to promote enduring, daily
interfaith cooperation, to end religiously motivated violence and to create
cultures of peace, justice and healing for the Earth and all living beings,
a purpose that is completely consonant with the mission of the Interfaith Chapel.
I read articles and posts to the URI listserve daily from
Cooperation Circles all over the world, including in Israel and Palestine and
Baghdad. Grass roots interfaith work is
happening right in the midst of these violent conflicts, as local organizations
in those troubled regions come together to explore non-violent solutions to
their troubles. The stories of
interfaith prayer vigils and interfaith activism for peace and non-violence
don’t make the mainstream media, but all over the world, including in the
places wracked with the most violent conflict, people are working together to
try to find peaceful and just solutions and to end the violence. To honor their work, we who are fortunate
enough to live in places of relative safety must remain committed to the
interfaith work that we are doing here in our own back yard and to continue to
strengthen the relationships we have created through those efforts. Global conflicts have local repercussions. Our challenge is to create a local
environment that does not replicate the conflict happening on the other side of
the world. Violence can spread like a
cancer and we must not allow hatred and mistrust and demonizing of the “other”
to metastasize to our local community. I am reminded of the words of St. Paul,
from my own Christian tradition, that one part of the body cannot say to the
other, “I have no need of you.” All the
parts must work together in order for the whole to be healthy.
Interfaith work is not always “kum-bah-yah” as this summer’s
global violence reminds us yet again.
It is hard work to remain faithful to relationships with those who feel
differently and strongly about these seemingly irreconcilable conflicts, but that
commitment and fidelity to the relationship is the bedrock on which interfaith dialogue is
built. By remaining in relationship with
one another we make it possible for all of us to be transformed and, if we are
creative and open-hearted, perhaps even discover a pathway to peace. The prayer I carry with me this summer is a
text from my own Christian tradition – “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they
shall be called children of God.”