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September 2000, Page 8.
Index of articles.
Questions:
index,
Confidentialities,
Yeast at HC,
Jerusalem,
Spilled wine,
Multifaith,
Why marry.
Race & Faiths:
index,
Multifaith,
Racism.
In this issue:
(September 2000)
Vicar's Letter,
Ephesus,
Gift Aid,
Question,
Common Worship.
In our "Questions to the clergy" slot, John will try to answer any query you throw at him, without hesitation, deviation or repetition...
Multifaith worship, dialogue and cooperation
Q. What do you think about all these multi-faith things which seem to be going on nowadays?
A. When I was a teenager I used to think that different religions were just different routes up the same imaginary mountain. However, when I started reading the bible I realized that Jesus didn’t say all views about God were equally valid. He said “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). My conversion to Christianity happened when I realized that the bible is history rather than mythology, and that only Jesus deals with the basic problem of humanity, which is that we are sinners and separated from God by our wrongdoings.
There are a lot of different things which get the label “multi-faith”, and I think we have to be a bit careful to distinguish between them.
I don’t believe that “multi-faith worship” makes any sense. Different faiths have different views about God, even if they use the same name for him, and I think it is only asking for trouble to pretend that we’re doing the same thing when we worship.
However, I do think dialogue between different faiths is good and important. Dialogue just means talking about our faiths with each other. It’s important for two reasons: they might learn from us, and we might learn from them. As an example, the experience of discussing God’s forgiveness with a Muslim is very instructive. Although the Qu’ran says Allah forgives, it turns out on study that he only forgives those who deserve forgiveness in some way - his forgiveness is not for the unworthy as God’s forgiveness through Jesus is. When we talk about these things there is a chance we will help the other person to a change of view, and we will also find our own appreciation of our faith is deepened.
I think cooperation between members of different faiths is important on matters which affect us all. For instance, I think the local church and the local mosque can and should work together on such projects as getting speed-bumps and zebra-crossings installed on high-risk roads. I also think we should work together on issues of justice - for instance, I think it’s a disgrace that the House of Lords has bishops in it but not rabbis.
And finally, I think we should welcome everyone into our buildings for community uses (e.g. playgroups, computer courses), but I don’t think we should turn church buildings into community centres where the Christian leadership would lose the right to say ‘no’ to what might go on in them. I think we should maintain the Christian ethos of buildings which are ours on trust.
John Hartley