Interfaith Dialogue

• Historically, there have been many religious conflicts throughout history
• While many of them can be seen as having political motivations, they were generally driven by religious fervor
• Fundamental differences


  • There were certain demographics within religions that believed that a religion should be practiced in a certain way
  • This goes back to the idea of stubbornness from the previous modules
• Protestants vs Catholics


  1. There were several wars during the Renaissance Era that resulted from such differences

  2. Protestants/Lutherans would fight with Catholics and vice versa through a series of wars that would last for many years
• Christians vs Muslims


  1. This religious conflict has been present arguably for the longest time

  2. Emphasized greatly by the Holy Crusades, and the idea of sanctum bellum, or holy war

  3. Such conflict has not only resulted in the displacement of ethnic groups, but also destruction of historical buildings
• Religious tolerance


  • The toleration of other people's beliefs
  • It can also be interpreted to have ulterior motives beneath it
• The idea of tolerance is something that is present in everyday society; but it calls into question is there a difference between tolerance and acceptance
• These conflicts, while partially motivated by religion, served to further the gap between demographics or religions
• It led to the establishment of mutually negative stigmas of each other
• Any peace achieved was often under the banner of religious tolerance
• There have been many events in history about the violence done by the Christians
• Religious pluralism


  • A response to the diversity of religious beliefs, practices, and traditions that exist both in the contemporary world and throughout history
  • The acceptance of such diversity of beliefs, practices, and traditions
• Understanding how far humanity has come in order to reach this kind of agreement is essential
• Interfaith expositions


  1. In 1893, the World Parliament of Religious was held

  2. The World Parliament itself was attended by varying denominations of religious followers such as Protestant, Christians, Hindus, Jains, and Buddhist

  3. While the Parliament itself did not continue afterwards, interfaith organizations began to spread after its occurrence
• Ecumenism


  The concept that the different Christian denominations should work together despite their differences in traditions in order to achieve Christian Unity
• Interreligious Unity


  • The idea that religious freedom is based on the notion of acceptance and not tolerance
  • The idea that cultural sensitivity can be extended towards religion and that mutual respect can be achieved across different religions
• Religious Pluralism


  • The concept that focuses on the idea of the acceptance of diverse religious beliefs
  • It is the idea that despite certain differences of beliefs, it is possible to achieve a certain kind of unity, acceptance
• The Notion of Acceptance

  • That the ideas of other religions are not stigmatized
  • The same also applies to its followers in that they are not to be discriminate against
  • This gives against the idea of tolerance, which tends to imply that while religious beliefs, are permissible, such beliefs should be approached with caution
• Religions are not always ascribed to your worldviews