LAST WORD
Peaceful inter-religious dialogue is necessary today to promote harmony in our closely interconnected multi-religious global society.
Living in a closely interconnected ‘global village’, we find ourselves living in a world of multi-religious, multi-cultural, multi-ethnic societies. Differences naturally exist between people in such pluralistic societies. Some people confront others in efforts to remove these differences, not realizing that some differences just cannot be removed. The fact is that Nature abhors uniformity and revels in diversity. This means that ‘difference’ is a part of Nature. Differences exist in every aspect of life, including in the sphere of religion. For peace to prevail in such societies, we need to simply learn the ‘art of difference management’ rather than the ‘art of difference elimination.’
How should we manage differences? In the realm of religion today, differences can best be managed through meaningful and positive dialogue between people of different faiths, as this book has sought to show. Such dialogue can serve many important purposes, such as peace-building, conflict-resolution, and most importantly helping people grow intellectually and spiritually through learning from others’ insights and experiences. Meaningful inter-religious dialogue is necessary today to promote peace and harmony in our closely interconnected multi-religious global society.
Over the years, I have participated in many interfaith initiatives in different countries. The gist of my experience from them is that while religious uniformity is not possible, what is indeed possible is a formula for harmony between people from different religious backgrounds. Moreover, the formula for peaceful interfaith dialogue, according to my experience, is only one: it is based on mutual respect and mutual learning.
One purpose of inter-religious dialogue, or dialogue between members of different religious communities, is for dialogue partners to develop respect for each other, show kindness and forbearance towards each other, and understand and learn from each other’s ideas, insights, and experiences. In this way, they can grow as human beings. Such dialogue helps the participants evolve spiritually and intellectually by learning from each other, so they become better human beings—which is surely a goal shared by various religions.
Sustained inter-religious efforts can create a platform for uniting peace-loving people across the globe from different religious backgrounds to work for the common good, celebrate our common humanity, and most importantly, grow as human beings.
