Challenge of interfaith dialog in globalization era

Benny Susetyo Jakarta

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi of Malaysia has said that the world is now seriously in need of establishing an interfaith dialog in the struggle for peace and justice, and should not remain in a state of continuous conflict that could lead to more acute differences. "It is this interfaith dialog that the world needs most of all today," he said in his address to the conference of the World Council of Churches (WCC) held in Kuala Lumpur on Aug. 3, 2004.

Badawi's statement is in tune with the world's most pressing need currently. We have witnessed how dialogs have often ignored various problems that the world is confronted with, ranging from interfaith to interstate relationships. As a result, it is more often the case that the differences become increasingly acute.

When, for example, terrorism is deemed to be the common enemy of the world's nations and therefore poses a serious threat to the harmony in the international community, the old paradigm is still employed to solve this problem, namely the paradigm of violence against violence. A dialog is very hard to pursue even though those fighting terrorism tend to be considered to have greater democracy than other nations.

The world's annoyance with terrorism has not manifested itself in the form of self-correction, i.e., by nations asking themselves why the terrorists have launched their attacks, but rather by seeking new ways in which terrorism can be eliminated. In reality, it is public knowledge that the world comprises good and bad guys and that the bad guys cannot be completely routed. What is feasible is to direct them in such a way that they will not become destructive. It is impossible to eliminate terrorism if the root cause is religious fundamentalism, which is the reality today. Terrorism can only be stopped if the objects of terror come to realize what they have been doing wrong. The only thing that is possible to do in this context is to hold a dialog!

A dialog, as Badawi has noted, is necessary for a world that is currently facing a host of problems. A dialog is very important in dealing with the arrogance of global capitalism, which has often sidelined issues of humanity. Its import is also felt when common humanity no longer forms part of the principal viewpoint of advanced countries when looking at poor countries.

Badawi is correct when stating that a new way of looking at human beings is now needed. A human being is not merely an economic or production factor. A human being must be treated in a way that takes account of all of his aspects. Humanity is the basic paradigm for togetherness in developing harmonious relationships between advanced and backward groups, rich and the poor states, the majority and the minority, and the oppressed and the ruler. It is in humanity that human beings can find the roots of true togetherness.

It is also humanity that will supply the foundation on which an interfaith dialog can be built, something which, alas, is easier said than done. An interfaith dialog will develop and hit home if its orientation is geared toward the problems that mankind is facing today.

In this age of advanced communications, the world has undergone a shift in actual orientation, with the values of togetherness being sidelined for individualism. This change has eroded further our orientation toward humanity. Each community is inclined only to think about its own interests, its own religion and its own group. It is easy to guess, therefore, that this inclination will strengthen personal, religious and ethnic sentiments.

This reality has made it difficult for an interfaith dialog to be useful in solving global problems, such as the destruction of human civilization that has led to greater alienation on the part of human beings in their relations with themselves and their own environment. The environment is no longer a peaceful place where you make your home because the soil, the water and the air have been polluted and contaminated by physical as well as non- physical waste. Brotherhood is no longer part of our lives in establishing relations with our fellow human beings. Relations are based only on money transactions and power. Just like in the old days, when a human being was like a wolf to his fellow human beings, the survival of the fittest is the law that still prevails today.

Paul F. Knitter has proposed models of humanitarian dialog that are linked to the human plight, namely, the economic, ecological and educational problems that have devastated mankind. Knitter encourages religious people to use these dialog models so that they will be able to keep themselves informed about these problems of humanity.

Such dialogs are possible only when a religious community establishes an egalitarian, not hierarchical, community. A religion that claims the sole truth cannot overcome the global problems now sweeping across the entire world. A religion must acknowledge that it is not perfect and that it needs to forge cooperation with other communities, such as intellectuals, cultural activists, politicians and economists.

It is now time for religious communities to discard prejudices against people of other faiths. A self-interested orientation will only remove the role of the religion as a community of those who make "a final decision". Each religion must move to respond to the increasingly complicated problems of humanity. Obviously, what Badawi has said is connected with the hope that religious communities will build synergies in discussing legislative products that run counter to humanity.

All religions must feel called upon to jointly rethink their tasks, namely, to respond to ongoing problems facing mankind in an effort to save the world from its own collapse. Religions must unite to think about new alternatives for the establishment of a new world order. The present order is one of injustice and exploitation, and has led to the emergence of religious radicalism.

Radicalism can be properly dealt with only when religions can formulate common ethics that are concerned with the values of togetherness geared toward the empowerment of the poor and the oppressed. Poverty is the common enemy of religious people. Poverty has made human beings unable to deal with global competition.

It is at this juncture that a religion must throw away its doctrinaire attitude and give up its claim to truth. A religion must assume a more prophetic attitude with regard to the complicated problems that human beings are confronted with in their lives. This acknowledgement is important to ensure that a new world may be established, one that is free from prejudices toward other people.

Ultimately, we all should contemplate Karl May's words: "It turns out that I have all this time lived amid a terrible plague and the cause is a prejudice."

The writer is cultural observer.