Cousin: "Elaine, why are you so involved in Interfaith?"
Elaine: "Cuz cooperating helps make the world a better place."
Cousin: "Cooperate?? But Muslims are just trying to take over the world!"
Elaine: "... Where did you get this information?"
Cousin: "One told me so!"
Since last time's post was so international and world-shaking in scope, I figured I'd share a more personal story. Elaine's a good friend of mine and her cousin is... Less interfaith-savvy than her... The conversation actually happened, paraphrased of course, but Elaine went on to talk about how one person doesn't represent an entire religious group, and even if that one Muslim seriously believed Muslims wanted to conquer the world, you can't look at the entire group as the same as that one.
Even people like the Dalai Lama or the Pope can't represent their entire group, because not everyone follows the exact same version of their religion as those two, even though both supposedly DO represent their faiths. For example, groups of Buddhist monks are massacring people in Myanmar, and some Catholics priests have sexually abused children.
Rather than judging the religion by the few who want to rule the world, or slaughter villagers or rape children, we need to see each person as an individual representative of their personal faith. On the flip side, we can't naively assume that everyone is going to be as peaceful as the Dalai Lama, or as compassionate as the pope. We need to face the harsh reality that some of the people in these religious groups are dangerous, hurtful and/or despicable.
Interfaith isn't just big meetings for peacemaking in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but it can be any moment when you have a conversation about faith with anyone. There are opportunities everywhere to grow in our own understanding of each other, and to contribute to others' understanding, giving and taking whenever we get the chance! It's something that goes on in our daily lives.
Hopefully Elaine's cousin came away better for it, with a new appreciation for other faiths... But what if she didn't? What if all this is doing is alienating her form Elaine, making her see Elaine as "less of a Catholic" because of her interfaith involvement? (Again, this part of the conversation actually happened) What if Elaine really is less of a Catholic because she has to suspend her beliefs to discuss religion with someone she so fundamentally disagrees with?
That's one of people's biggest reservations, that they will become "less" of whatever they are. Less of a Catholic, or a Muslim or an Evangelical Christian for engaging in this dialogue. Similarly, a lot of people assume conservative people can't be involved in the dialogue, or that they won't be because they are so firmly rooted in believing their own tradition to be the only True one. Even conservative atheists are thought to shun interfaith dialogue, mostly because people think they want nothing to do with faith, which is true sometimes, but some of the greatest interfaith discussions I've personally had are so great because of the secular voices that come to the table.
I've never felt like I've had to compromise my own beliefs to participate, but I'm also super progressive (like really though... sometimes I wonder if I've progressed too far...), so maybe I'm just falling into the stereotypes. But Elaine considers herself a staunch Catholic, and on the more conservative side theologically, violating this stereotype. Atheists like Bart Campolo may believe that there is no God at all, but he certainly doesn't feel like he has to compromise his own intellect and reason to discuss what to him may seem to be an imaginary being.
Others feel differently... It's tough to get Evangelical Christians involved because they're often so conservative, and they often are so certain of their own Truth that they have trouble accepting another. Which is a shame because I think everyone has so much to offer to the discussion!
I think it all comes back to those fancy terms Abu-Nimer was using: Religiorelative vs. Religiocentric. Changing the dialogue from focusing on our religion in a central way, and more relatively. But maybe these don't work as well as they work for me... Maybe they don't work for you. But they're a starting point, and I think shifting our thinking in that way can bring us all a little closer, as we have the tough conversations with our cousins, or the chats with our friends. Ready at every moment to gain something from them, and give something if we can!
Elaine: "Cuz cooperating helps make the world a better place."
Cousin: "Cooperate?? But Muslims are just trying to take over the world!"
Elaine: "... Where did you get this information?"
Cousin: "One told me so!"
Since last time's post was so international and world-shaking in scope, I figured I'd share a more personal story. Elaine's a good friend of mine and her cousin is... Less interfaith-savvy than her... The conversation actually happened, paraphrased of course, but Elaine went on to talk about how one person doesn't represent an entire religious group, and even if that one Muslim seriously believed Muslims wanted to conquer the world, you can't look at the entire group as the same as that one.
Even people like the Dalai Lama or the Pope can't represent their entire group, because not everyone follows the exact same version of their religion as those two, even though both supposedly DO represent their faiths. For example, groups of Buddhist monks are massacring people in Myanmar, and some Catholics priests have sexually abused children.
Rather than judging the religion by the few who want to rule the world, or slaughter villagers or rape children, we need to see each person as an individual representative of their personal faith. On the flip side, we can't naively assume that everyone is going to be as peaceful as the Dalai Lama, or as compassionate as the pope. We need to face the harsh reality that some of the people in these religious groups are dangerous, hurtful and/or despicable.
Interfaith isn't just big meetings for peacemaking in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but it can be any moment when you have a conversation about faith with anyone. There are opportunities everywhere to grow in our own understanding of each other, and to contribute to others' understanding, giving and taking whenever we get the chance! It's something that goes on in our daily lives.
Hopefully Elaine's cousin came away better for it, with a new appreciation for other faiths... But what if she didn't? What if all this is doing is alienating her form Elaine, making her see Elaine as "less of a Catholic" because of her interfaith involvement? (Again, this part of the conversation actually happened) What if Elaine really is less of a Catholic because she has to suspend her beliefs to discuss religion with someone she so fundamentally disagrees with?
That's one of people's biggest reservations, that they will become "less" of whatever they are. Less of a Catholic, or a Muslim or an Evangelical Christian for engaging in this dialogue. Similarly, a lot of people assume conservative people can't be involved in the dialogue, or that they won't be because they are so firmly rooted in believing their own tradition to be the only True one. Even conservative atheists are thought to shun interfaith dialogue, mostly because people think they want nothing to do with faith, which is true sometimes, but some of the greatest interfaith discussions I've personally had are so great because of the secular voices that come to the table.
I've never felt like I've had to compromise my own beliefs to participate, but I'm also super progressive (like really though... sometimes I wonder if I've progressed too far...), so maybe I'm just falling into the stereotypes. But Elaine considers herself a staunch Catholic, and on the more conservative side theologically, violating this stereotype. Atheists like Bart Campolo may believe that there is no God at all, but he certainly doesn't feel like he has to compromise his own intellect and reason to discuss what to him may seem to be an imaginary being.
Others feel differently... It's tough to get Evangelical Christians involved because they're often so conservative, and they often are so certain of their own Truth that they have trouble accepting another. Which is a shame because I think everyone has so much to offer to the discussion!
I think it all comes back to those fancy terms Abu-Nimer was using: Religiorelative vs. Religiocentric. Changing the dialogue from focusing on our religion in a central way, and more relatively. But maybe these don't work as well as they work for me... Maybe they don't work for you. But they're a starting point, and I think shifting our thinking in that way can bring us all a little closer, as we have the tough conversations with our cousins, or the chats with our friends. Ready at every moment to gain something from them, and give something if we can!
No comments:
Post a Comment