|
Chapter 1 Go to Contents | Go to Chapter 2 Why Meeting My Neighbor the Stranger is Important for Our Mutual Survival Who is my neighbor? The question resonates back through the centuries in every religious tradition. But an intense new immediacy attends the question today, in what Harvard professor Diana Eck calls “a new religious America.” In less than half a century, the demographics of our nation’s neighborhoods—large and small, urban and rural—have generated a startling religious diversity. On a bus, in a classroom, at work, buying groceries, at the ballpark, most of us in this country continue to rub shoulders with Catholics, Jews, Protestants, and the unaffiliated. But the 20th century witnessed a massive shift in this country, particularly when immigration law was reformed in 1965 to end racial discrimination against certain groups. Today the American family has been joined by significant numbers of Buddhists, Confucians, Hindus, Jains, Muslims, Sikhs, Taoists, and Zoroastrians. These traditions all found their first public forum in this country at the 1893 World’s Parliament of Religions; now their  temples, restaurants, and cultural festivals have become part of our lives. Simultaneously, newer religions are proliferating, bringing us Latter Day Saints, Unitarian Universalists, Baha’i’s, and the Brahma Kumaris, to name but a few. Equally important is growing recognition and respect for dozens of earth-based, indigenous traditions, communities that fall under such mantles as American Indian, Neo-Pagan, and Shinto.The amazing religious landscape emerging is unprecedented. But the core issue facing religious communities learning to live together goes back at least to the 1840s, when interfaith peace societies started sprouting up here and abroad, all focused on ending war. Approximately 425 peace groups around the world were active in 1900, largely people of faith who had survived the bloodiest of all centuries and wanted a change. In February 1914, Andrew Carnegie invited Catholic, Jewish, and Protestant leaders to his home and offered to fund an interfaith effort to abolish war. Their initial conference was scheduled that September in Germany. The day it convened World War I was declared, and 24 hours later, after sharing prayers, the participants hurried home. Today, in a world more bloodied than ever, not all is bleak. Peace studies and conflict resolution theory are in the second or third generation of a renaissance, starting with the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. Leading up to the 1993 Parliament of the World’s Religions (commemorating the 1893 gathering), Catholic theologian Hans Küng suggested that until religions make peace, nations will be at war, and until religions are in dialogue, they will not be at peace with each other. The 8,000 who went to the 1993 Parliament provided an enthusiastic choir for Professor Küng’s notions about interreligious dialogue, but the rest of the world paid scant attention. Little changes started taking place on their own, though, across the land. Starting in the early 1990s, ecumenical groups (Christians from different denominations) increasingly have moved to interfaith membership. Chaplains in hospitals, universities, and the military learn on the job from day one about ministry to multi-religious constituencies. Directors of neighborhood food programs, emergency housing, and local/global crisis response efforts have become savvy about increasing their capacity to meet goals by welcoming participation from all faith families. But it took September 11, 2001,- to wake the world up to the scope and import of Dr. Küng’s challenge. Several Sundays after that historic tragedy, 30 Muslims showed up on the doorstep of First Congregational United Church of Christ in San Jose as worship was about to begin. “We are Muslims,” they explained. “Are we welcome?” They were welcomed in. After worship, the Muslims said, “We are your neighbors, and we don’t know you. We think we should know each other.” From that first conversation flowed a series of collaborative events. The raw courage of the Muslims walking into an unknown worship environment within weeks of 9-11, and the startled Christians’ ability to respond openly and in friendship, exemplifies the essence of what is required for interfaith relationship building. Demonizing people behind their backs is so much easier than walking across the street and introducing yourself. But in neighborhoods everywhere, people—a few here, a few there—are putting shyness and fear of the unknown aside, and starting their introductions. FOR REFLECTION OR DISCUSSION
Go to Contents | Go to Chapter 2 |