I have become increasingly disappointed in the content and the quality of what generally passes for "interfaith dialogue". And while I do not want to disparage or discourage such interfaith projects as community Thanksgiving celebrations and Martin Luther King commemorations- we ought not think that these worthwhile endeavors are anything more than transitory feel good moments, that cannot, in and of themselves, produce meaningful inter-religious relationships, nor create committed and sincere interfaith partners.
I have also come to believe that most clergy are not really interested in a sincere and honest exchange of religious ideas and values, because such open dialogue challenges the truths and beliefs that are the foundations of their own faiths. We are much more comfortable, as clergy, as congregations, and as religious communities to remain within, and not venture beyond, the security of what we know, and what we know to be true.
And the reality is, that we are ordained within our own faith communities to protect and preserve those truths and beliefs, priorities and principles which define our doctrine. Our jobs as congregational religious leaders is not open for debate our theology and respective faith-convictions. Who among us really want to be challenged in our faith and theology by purposefully an pointedly engaging in an interactive dialogue that forces us to see ourselves from someone else's perspective?
I completely understand the concerns of my colleagues that that kind of searching and questioning and challenging dialogue can be distressing. It puts dialogue partners in an extremely vulnerable position, because someone at least as smart as you, pushes you to explain, justify and satisfactorily interpret the "truths" that usually go unchallenged within the walls of your own community.
But if we are interested in reaching beyond the walls of our institution and the self-sustaining doctrines of our own religious communities, to create an inter-dependent and mutually supportive brotherhood and sisterhood of clergy colleagues, then we have to move beyond the comfortably familiar of "me and mine", and engage each other in an authentic and purposeful exchange of what it means to affirm God, and Truth and Salvation, and Revelation. It means that I have to step outside my safe and familiar box and ask this particularly difficult question: "What do you know that I don't, and that I need to know?"
Though challenging and daunting for the individual, serious inter-faith dialogue could have a significant, positive and far-reaching effect on our community. But such a dialogue can only begin with mutual understanding, affirmation and appreciation of each other's faith and belief systems. Because we are religious communities, because we differentiate and define ourselves by what we believe, and by what we do because of what we believe-the place for us to begin is with religious foundational texts upon which our communities stand. Our discussions ought to focus on how we read Hebrew Scripture, the New Testament and the Koran.
We ought to be challenging each other with difficult passages in these, our foundational texts, the very passages that create inter-faith barriers. We must together struggle with Hebrew Scripture texts like "the Lord your God has chosen you to be a special people to himself, above all peoples that are upon the face of the earth. [Deuteronomy 7:6]", and with Jesus declaring that "No one comes to the Father except through me [John 14:6]" and Koranic passages that warn "Take not the Jews and the Christians for your friends and protectors... Verily Allah guides not a people unjust. [Surah 5:51]"
But we cannot begin the process unless there is an explicit recognition of mutual religious authenticity. So I ask the following questions of my non-Jewish partner before I agree to engage in sincere and honest dialogue: Do you believe that Judaism is an authentic covenant with God? Are you and I equally, sufficiently and fully acceptably in-covenant with God--or does God want my Jewish faith and my religious behavior to be corrected or supplemented by your message?
Those are the kinds of questions we have to ask each other at the beginning of our conversation, for they lay the foundation for authentic and meaningful inter-faith relationships. And I believe that dialogue, beginning from and based upon, these mutual affirmations, will have long-term benefit, both for the religious leaders involved, and for the communities that they teach. The value, indeed the necessity, of engaging each other in interfaith dialogue is that because we understand and experience our path to God in such different ways, we may discover from each other, insights about finding faith and belief, and experiencing covenant. In challenging each other to think differently about our own religious values an ideas, in seeing ourselves through the eyes of others, we have a unique opportunity to not only appreciate the beliefs of our neighbors, but more importantly to better understand our own.
I close reminding you of the verse from Proverbs [27:17]:
Iron sharpens iron,
so one man sharpens another
Rabbi Joseph P. Klein
Temple Emanu-El, Oak Park, MI |
