I just returned from attending the Earl Lectures and Pastoral Conference at Pacific School of Religion. The topic of the conference this year was interfaith work from the perspective of Christianity. I found the conference interesting because it raised more questions for me than answers.
I do not believe that interfaith work can truly happen from the context of a single religion. I cannot stand in my “Christianness” and claim to do interfaith work. I must move myself from that which makes me Christian, and stand in a different context, an interfaith context.
It is like a street with many houses, or even a settlement with many dwellings. Each dwelling is a religion. It contains within its walls the symbols, the history, the traditions, the spirituality and the beliefs that are known to those who hold title to that religion. Many religions have different perspectives and beliefs under one name, still the house holds all that which is attached to a particular faith system.
To be in an interfaith context I must walk out of the house of Christian, just as another must walk out of the house of Jew, Muslim or Buddhist. The area that exists outside of the specific symbols, rules and beliefs; the sidewalks, the driveways, the shared park down the street, becomes the new context for being religious. It is only when we move beyond our own doorways and meet in a community space can we enter the place of interfaith.
I do think, though, that there is something in each house that gets some of us out the door. I don’t know if the foundational belief to move beyond our own knowing is the same in every house, but each house has those that step down the stoops and leave comfortable couches and overstuffed chairs. In fact, maybe it is discomfort with the certainty of our home that pushes us outside.
There are Christians that would say we must stand in Christ to be in interfaith relationships or to enter into interfaith dialogue. I am not one of these Christians. Christian responsibility in an interfaith world requires that I must walk down from Calvary, leave its ominous shadow behind and turn into the bright fertile plain of something “all together” different.
