The “Building Hope: Muslims, Christians and Jews Seeking the Common Good” conference has come to an end. What an amazing time.
Normally, “interfaith” activities tend to attract more “liberal” or “progressive” people, in any of the faith traditions. Because of that, many of the more “conservative” people in each of the faith traditions tend to look on these gatherings and activities with suspicion – suspicion that the participants are acting as if “all roads lead to God” or all religions are the same or everything is relative; i.e., that we are “giving away the farm.”
In a way, at the heart of this conference was the question, can we as people of faith be deeply committed to our own faith, but yet relate to others – equally committed to their faith – with respect, and even beyond that, build relationships where we understand each other, can discuss our differences (even deep ones) frankly, and even become friends (in spite of our differences)? Can we experience transformative relationship with “the Other” - transformative, not in that we lose our own faith or distinctives, but in the sense that we grow as human beings with “large hearts,” able (like God) to embrace others whether they agree with us or not, to care for them as human beings, and to work together to seek the “common good” (the good of humanity), and not just look out for our own interests (hmm, that makes me think of the statement in the New Testament, “do not just look out for your own interests” - could that possibly include people of other faiths?).
For me as an Anthropologist, this is very much about what I often write about, growing from an Ethnocentric perspective on life, the world, faith, God – i.e., where the worldview and ways of my people are the only one I know – to an Ethnorelative (or Ethnosensitive) experience, recognizing that there are other worldviews and ways, and being able to enter into the life, the world, the perspectives of others, and learning to appreciate them as they are (different from me). This does not mean losing oneself, but rather, growing, expanding.
I think this conference was a smashing success. I am astounded, really. We were Christians (including evangelical, Catholic, and Oriental Orthodox, and several different countries), Jews (mainly Orthodox, but including Reform and Conservative, and both Ashkenazi and Sephardi, and again from different countries including Israel), and Muslims (both Sunni and Shiite, and from different countries) – all deeply committed, the kind of people you might expect to clash. And yet, from the start, there was respect, a desire to know and understand, an openness to listening and learning and changing, in the context of sharing with each other our deep commitments, and asking each other some hard questions.
A highlight, which I've written about, was visiting each other's places of worship. For many of us, it was the first time in one of the settings (or both). And everyone, as far as I heard, considered it a deeply meaningful and impactful experience. Openness to “the Other.” Wow.
Another highlight, probably the heart of the time, was the meals together and the opportunity to just “hang out,” getting to know each other. We all discovered, I think, the great power of personal relationship to transform our experience and perspectives. We tend to live with stereotypes of “the Other.” Only through relationship with real people can we break those strereotypes. (Something else that helped us greatly was humor – I'm not sure I knew that Orthodox Jews and Muslims could be so funny! Maybe we should start a new comedy tour?)
Last night as we reflected back on the 10 days, we used the metaphor of seeing through different glasses. I would probably sum up this experience for me by saying, developing new friendships with other Christians, Orthodox Jews, and Muslims, has helped me to see Jesus more clearly. I am more thankful than ever, personally, for who he is and what he has done and daily does for me, for the fact that he came to give life and freedom.
I look forward to continuing to develop the relationships with my new friends, learning about myself, others, and God along the way.
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