Can any faith be understood and practiced unless it is learnt in the context of religious plurality and in ways that build human community?1
A few years ago I had the privilege of spending a few days in the Holy Land. Together with other pilgrims I visited the places where Jesus spent the days before his crucifixion. Among these places is the Garden of Gethsemane, the site where he was seized with inexpressible suffering and an intense fear of his approaching death. A church has been built at this site. In it is a painting: it shows Jesus in his agony being comforted by an angel. The painting is impressive and cannot fail to make people reflect on the mystery behind suffering, especially behind innocent suffering. One of my companions, reflecting on the fact that Jesus had been forsaken by his closest followers and had been left alone in this hour of fearful agony, made this observation: “Yes, in suffering it is really only God who is able to stand by us.”
This statement moved me for it came from a person who is not a Christian. His reflection made me realize anew that spiritual experiences are not the privileged province of the adherents of one religion only. Throughout the ages, people of widely varying belief systems have had moments when they knew without a doubt about the existence of a reality beyond that seen by our physical eyes. Such spiritual experiences, more often than not, become the driving force behind their actions and their life style.
In keeping with the objectives of Wajibu “to offer the possibility of dialogue between people of different backgrounds and religions” we decided in this issue to feature the spiritual experiences of some of our fellow women and men. Naturally, these experiences vary widely, coming as they do from people of different religions not only, but of different cultures. Yet they do have one thing in common, namely the individual’s search for meaning in life and the (often progressive) realization that meaning cannot be found in material possessions, in the trappings of power or even in a life of service to our fellow human beings. Throughout the ages people have searched for something or someone beyond themselves and many have found God, Allah, Paramatma, or whatever name they have ascribed to the Supreme Being.
In this day and age, homogeneous communities are increasingly rare and many of us live in communities where there is regular interaction with people of different religious persuasions: religious plurality is a fact we have to live with. If we look at this situation realistically, however, we find that many people of faith are not very comfortable with this fact. They may outwardly be civil to people of a different faith but inwardly such people pose a threat to them. The reason is not difficult to find: many of us have been taught that our religion alone holds the truth and that other religions are in error. Those of us who have made an effort genuinely to get to know about the spiritual life of people who profess a faith different from our own are increasingly uncomfortable with that assertion. So are theologians who are involved in inter-religious dialogue. All of us are aware that it does not serve the cause of truth if we deny the genuineness of other people’s religious experience.
Yet questions remain. Limited as we are by our human condition, it is puzzling to us that people have spiritual experiences which seem to contradict what our various belief systems teach us to hold as truth. I believe that we have to learn to live with these contradictions until the time that God grants us greater insight into his ways. What we must absolutely not do is to condemn or even to demonize others for the beliefs they hold. But of course these beliefs must do no harm to our fellow human beings.
People of faith who have taken the route of interfaith dialogue have experienced that learning about another’s beliefs is not a threat to one’s own faith. On the contrary, it generally leads to a better understanding as well as of a more genuine practice of one’s faith. A number of articles in this issue witness to that fact.
The events of 11 September 2001 and their aftermath have made it painfully clear that it is all too easy to polarize human beings on the basis of their beliefs. People of faith cannot and must not choose that route. The ills in our global community are so many. There is an urgent need for all of us to search for those values in our various religions which will help us to address those ills together. Interfaith dialogue, therefore, is no longer just an option, it is a must.
1. S. Wesley Ariarajah in Current dialogue, issue 34.
