Posts Tagged ‘ Dialogue ’

Pope wins over German Muslims

September 26, 2011
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Tom Heneghan, Reuters, Sep.23, blogs.reuters.com/faithworld/2011/09/23/pope-benedict-wins-over-german-muslims-in-first-meeting-since-regensburg-speech/

Pope Benedict told German Muslims in Berlin on Friday they can expect cooperation and support from Roman Catholics as long as they respect Germany’s constitution and the limits it sets on pluralism. Meeting representatives of the country’s four million Muslims, he said the constitution drawn up in post-war West Germany was solid enough to adapt to a pluralistic society in a globalised world and make room for new religions as well.

It sounded like the Bavarian-born pontiff was making a veiled reference to a debate in Germany over the past year over Muslim integration in Germany and whether  Muslims wanted sharia here, an issue discussed mostly on the conservative end of the political spectrum. Chancellor Angela Merkel warned Muslims last year that Islamic law had no place in Germany. “What applies here is the constitution, not sharia,” she declared. When he took office in March, Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich said the idea that “Islam belongs to Germany” — first mentioned by President Christian Wulff last year — “is not substantiated by history at any point.” A recent book “Richter ohne Gesetz” (Judges without Law) argues that Muslims are setting up a “parallel legal system” that is undermining German justice.

Muslim leaders didn’t hear it that way.  They  praised the pope for confirming through the meeting that Islam was now a part of German society and pointing towards new and expanded cooperation between Catholics and Muslims. But they said their loyalty to the constitution, a main point in his speech, was never in question. “As Muslims in Germany, we have always said that we see the German constitution as a good basis for peaceful life together,” Bekir Alboga, head of interreligious dialogue for the Turkish mosque association DITIB, told Reuters after meeting the pope.

Read the complete article here.

Jewish Theological Seminary Launches Milstein Center for Interreligious Dialogue

September 26, 2011
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JTS of NY, Sep.6, www.jtsa.edu/News/Press_Releases/JTS_Launches_Milstein_Center_for_Interreligious_Dialogue.xml

The Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) announced the establishment of the Milstein Center for Interreligious Dialogue(MCID), funded with a $2 million gift from New York philanthropist Howard Milstein and the Paul Milstein family. The Milsteins have a long history of engagement with JTS. Irma Milstein chaired the William Davidson Graduate School of Jewish Education and served on the JTS Board of Trustees. The gift from her family marks the second generation of relationship between the Milsteins and JTS.

The Milstein Center’s invitation-only inaugural event will take place at JTS on Monday, October 31, 2011, with His Eminence Kurt Cardinal Koch as the guest of honor. Cardinal Koch is visiting from the Vatican, where he is the president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, which includes the Pontifical Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews. This is Cardinal Koch’s first trip to New York City in that capacity.

“The new center will expand the long commitment of JTS to interreligious dialogue and partnership and enable us to highlight an annual schedule of distinct programs that range in complexity and content,” said Rabbi Burton L. Visotzky, who will be director of the Milstein Center. Rabbi Visotzky is the Appleman Professor of Midrash and Interreligious Studies at JTS. He has been active in interreligious dialogue for more than three decades in the United States and internationally.

Howard Milstein added, “This is a good time to build on 50 years of Jewish-Christian dialogue and expand it to all of the Abrahamic religions. At a time when religion-based antagonism is one of the greatest threats to world peace, JTS has a pivotal role in educating the next generation of religious leaders to promote mutual respect among all faiths.”

Read the complete article here.

Religious Leaders in Dachau Join in Opposing War

September 19, 2011
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Chiara Santomiero, Zenit, Sep.15, www.zenit.org/article-33448?l=english

From Romania, Poland, Hungary and Ukraine, from Italy and Russia, religious leaders convoked by the Catholic lay Community of Sant’Egidio arrived together to Bunker 28 in Dachau.

The group was part of the interreligious meeting held last Sunday through Tuesday in Munich, with the theme: “Bound to Live Together. Religions and Cultures in Dialogue.”

Catholic priests and Protestant pastors were held at Dachau, men who expressed in their churches opposition to the Nazi regime or helped to hide Jews and other persecuted people. From 1933 to 1945, some 3,000 priests were kept there, from 134 dioceses and 24 countries.

Very many died. “Dachau was not an extermination camp; its objective was ‘re-education’ through forced labor; however, as regards the 42,000 deaths among the 200,000 inmates during 12 years, there certainly can be no talk of natural deaths,” explained the guide.

The religious leaders from all over the world — Christians, Muslims, Jews and representatives of the religions of Asia — met Tuesday in Dachau for a commemorative ceremony, which highlighted, once again, the desire of religions for peace and reconciliation.

Read the complete article here.

Jerusalem interfaith dialogue sees increased participation

September 19, 2011
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Judith Sudilovsky, ENInews, Sep.14, www.eni.ch/featured/article.php?id=5146

Religious leaders in Jerusalem are more willing than ever before to take part in dialogue with members of other faiths despite growing political turmoil in the region, said Daniel Milo, the director of the Jerusalem Center for Ethics, prior to the start of the third annual Interfaith and Ethics Symposium on 14 September.

Religious leaders now realized “that the alternative to dialogue is not acceptable,” Milo said, noting that attendance at the annual symposium, which delves into interfaith challenges, has grown over the past three years. Still, he admitted, some Palestinian religious leaders from East Jerusalem declined an invitation this year, largely due to internal community pressures.

The modern global era is forcing religious leaders to face challenges in maintaining influence on their followers, Milo said. “Religious leaders can’t keep their communities closed in anymore” and people are exposed to different views and ideas, he said.

Read the complete article here.

A Buddhist Example of Interfaith Dialogue

September 19, 2011
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Paul Knitter, Huffington Post, Sep.15, www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-paul-f-knitter/a-buddhist-response-to-christian-fanaticism_b_964072.html

Earlier this year, my wife Cathy and I spent eight days being gently rushed around the South Korean peninsula as part of a project aimed at promoting a more fruitful dialogue between Buddhists and Christians.  So there I was, in the midst of this Christian violence, a septuagenarian Christian scholar from New York arrives in Korea to talk about the value and need of Buddhist-Christian dialogue and to speak about my recent book “Without Buddha I Could Not Be a Christian.” To talk about dialogue and academia in the midst of such conflict had the semblance of urging relaxation in the midst of an earthquake. Still quaking, the Chogye Order of Korean Seon (Zen) Buddhists held to their invitation and asked this foreign Christian to come and talk.

Read the complete article here.

‘Ground Zero Mosque’ moving forward

September 12, 2011
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Heather M. Higgins, CNN, Sep.10, religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/09/10/ground-zero-mosque-moving-forward/

While all eyes are on lower Manhattan, nearly 200 people gathered more than 100 blocks north of Ground Zero on Friday night to honor 9/11 families and to recognize a decade of interfaith work at the Interchurch Center.

“Tonight we want to commemorate the event and we are going to honor 10 families who lost victims on 9/11. Five are Muslim, five are not Muslim, to show that we share the pain, we share the hope, we share the prayer,” said Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf.

He hosted the event, In Good Faith: Stories of Hope and Resilience, along with the American Society for Muslim Advancement (ASMA) and the Interchurch Center.

September 11 raised the profile of Islam in the U.S. and, according to Rauf, it caused the Western world to pay attention in a way that made Muslims the subject of intense suspicion. His goal is to build an American Muslim identity and enhance multi-faith dialogue.

The event highlighted bridge-building projects and began with a harmonic recitation from the Quran by Ali Karjoovary.

“We need a national healing around 9/11 and our hope is that we can achieve it,” Rauf said. “And no matter how you slice it, I believe this healing will require the help of religious voices and American Muslims.”

Read the complete article here.

WCC general secretary honours 9/11 victims and stresses a culture of peace

September 12, 2011
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WCC news, Sep.7, www.oikoumene.org/en/resources/documents/general-secretary/statements/ten-years-after-911.html

Remembering the thousands of people killed in the coordinated assault on 11 September 2001 in the United States of America, and its unfortunate consequences in Afghanistan and Iraq, World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit sends out a message honouring the victims, and promoting a culture of peace.

“On behalf of the council, I assure all those who have been affected by violence and inhumanity – in the United States and throughout the world – of continuing prayer and solidarity on the part of the fellowship of churches we constitute,” says Tveit stressing that “Terrorism in all its forms – whether committed by individuals, groups or states – is to be condemned.”

In his message, Tveit reaffirms churches’ commitment towards dialogue among people of different faiths, promoting a culture of “just peace”, which is also a key topic for the upcoming WCC 10th Assembly in 2013.

Read the complete article here.

Christian-Jewish relations still a source of debate

September 12, 2011
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Philip A. Cunningham and Eric J. Greenberg — ENInews/RNS, Sep.1,  www.eni.ch/featured/article.php?id=5122

A fascinating exchange recently took place in the pages of the Vatican’s newspaper between the chief rabbi of Rome and the Vatican’s chief representative to the Jewish people. Their conversation reflected just how far we’ve come in Christian-Jewish relations — but also how far we have yet to go, Religion News Service reports.

It started when L’Osservatore Romano published an article by Cardinal Kurt Koch, president of the Vatican’s Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews. Writing about the upcoming interfaith gathering at Assisi, Italy, on 27 October, Koch noted two key changes since the first Assisi summit 25 years ago: the collapse of communism and the rise in terrorism.

After arguing that “peace is the common effort of all religions,” Koch concluded that from a Christian perspective, “the cross of Jesus erases any desire for vengeance and calls everyone to reconciliation, it rises above us as the permanent and universal Yom Kippur,” referring to the Jewish Day of Atonement.

The cross is “not an obstacle to interreligious dialogue,” he wrote, “but rather, it indicates the decisive way that especially Jews and Christians, but also Muslims and followers of other religions, should welcome with a deep inner reconciliation, becoming the leaven of peace and justice in the world.”

Read the complete article here.

Muslims, Modernity, and the Prospects of Christian-Muslim Dialogue

August 25, 2011
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Robert Hunt, Inter-religious Dialogue, Aug.15, irdialogue.org/journal/muslims-modernity-and-the-prospects-of-christian-muslim-dialogue-by-robert-hunt/

This paper seeks to understand contemporary Islam in such a way as to suggest new approaches to Christian-Muslim dialogue. However, the general approach it offers is equally useful in the pursuit of other forms of engagement with Muslims and the Muslim community. It is the thesis of this paper that understanding Muslim (and Christian) identity in terms of narrative will provide a more illuminating and fruitful basis for engaging in interfaith dialogue, or at least a better understanding of those with whom we as Christians are in dialogue. A focus on Muslim narratives will also provide an alternative taxonomy of Islamic movements in the hope that this will provide indications of how future dialogue most usefully can be pursued.

Read the complete paper as a pdf  here.

Karen Leslie Hernandez (Wanted: More than Dialogue), Kari Aanestad (I am so much more than Lutheran) and Benjamin B DeVan (Dialogue Hard?) have written papers responding to Hunt’s original paper.

Inter-faith dialogue – A letter to The Guardian

August 10, 2011
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Jeffrey Cohen, The Guardian, Aug. 8, www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/aug/08/inter-faith-dialogue-jews-muslims

Donald Reeves describes Muslims as being the new Jews of Europe and calls for a grassroots movement across Europe to tackle the threat of Islamophobia (Face to faith, 6 August). In Nottingham, Jews and Muslims have been meeting together in a dialogue group for several years. The purpose of our group is not so much about having cosy discussions about our respective traditions and religions, interesting though that may be, but about confronting some of the more difficult issues which divide us politically and culturally. The subject of one of our first meetings was: “Why bother talking? We hate each other anyway.” We have found that although, or even because, we have not shirked contentious issues, such as the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, there has developed a strong friendship and respect between us. We have had fun as well – the price of entry for one event was the telling of a Muslim or Jewish joke.

How many Jews and Muslims can count each other as friends, visit each other’s houses and places of worship or go to England v Pakistan cricket matches together as we have done?

Jeffrey Cohen

Nottingham Jewish Muslim Dialogue

This is the complete letter.