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Action
Card Briefing October 2005
Listening and Dialogue Between the Faiths
It is not easy for many
people of faith, including Christians, to be good listeners, because we
are all so keen to share our own faith, and so used to talking about it
that we often miss the opportunity to learn and also to share.
The people of the world
faiths are ordinary people living in every city and in some of the towns
and rural areas of the UK today so it is not difficult in theory for
Christians to meet them or for them to meet each other. The hardest
hurdle to get over is the first one, the overcoming of shyness and the
making of the effort.
The problem for many
Christians is that they tend to meet Christians when they go to church
and for the rest of the week they do not necessarily relate religiously
at all. If Christians think about other faiths it tends to be in an
academic way, not relating the faith to real people. They may in fact
meet the real people in their everyday lives, walking around the local
area and at their work, without registering that they are in fact people
of other faiths.
When people meet people
across the faiths and once the initial shyness has been overcome, the
learning and sharing is usually about ordinary human activity at first,
but may then go on to include hopes and dreams, sharing on the faiths
themselves and shared action.
Once the initial
introductions have been made people are usually very happy to share
something of their faith, and it then becomes clear that there are no
stereotypes but simply people, who live and express their faith in their
own way. It also becomes clear that there are many schools of all the
world faiths, so that generalisations are not possible.
In the post 9.11 and post
July 7th 2005 world, meeting, talking, discussing and developing
understanding with people of other faiths is no longer an option for
Christians, but a pressing and essential part of Christian
responsibility. Communication with the secular world is also essential
because ignorance of other faiths often leads to their marginalization
and to the fuelling of divisions and hatred.
Inter faith dialogue is an
essential tool towards the building of a peaceful and just world.
Send a card this month to
the Inter Faith Network, wish them well in their work and ask them for
details of faith communities in the area where you live.
Ask Christians Aware for
details of the ‘Faith Awareness’ programme.
Brian Pearce, Inter Faith
Network
8A Lower Grosvenor Place,
London SW1 W OEN
Christians Aware, 2, Saxby
Street, Leicester. LE2 OND
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