wfn.org | Cooperation and dialogue in inter-faith relations

["Lambeth98" <storm@indigo.ie>]

ACNS LC114 - 8 August 1998

Lambeth calls for cooperation and dialogue
in inter-faith relations 

by Allan Reeder
Lambeth Conference Communications

The Lambeth Conference has set up a check-list to guide Anglicans
who are living and working alongside members of other faiths.

The resolution approved by Wednesday's business session (IV.1)
suggests the approach of Christians to people of other faiths
should be marked by "co-operation ... in working for justice,
peace and reconciliation" together with a "frank and honest
exploration of both the common ground and differences between the
faiths." 

There should also be a commitment to loving relationships, "even
in situations where co-existence seems impossible," the
resolution states.

Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali of Rochester (England), chair of the
conference's Inter-Faith Team, who led the debate, admitted some
bishops lived in nations where inter-faith relationships were
hard to pursue.

Dialogue needed on grass-roots level

"We have been aware of the great difficulty that some of you have
in relating to people of other faiths in your own context,"
Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali told the bishops. "But we have also been
aware that in spite of these difficulties, and perhaps because of
them, dialogue remains necessary."

 "Dialogue is not just for academics, it's not even just for
religious leaders," Bishop Nazir-Ali said. It should be "between
neighbours, between colleagues at work."

Mission is impossible without dialogue, he said. "Unless we
understand how our neighbours think, what are their values we
will not be able to proclaim to them the Good News of the
Gospel." 

Bishop Nazir-Ali said that while "conversion" is valid as a
theological idea, "We've said again and again . . . that
proselytizing is inappropriate for churches of this communion.
There is no place in our strategies of mission for material
inducements, psychological pressure or the targeting of
individuals or groups."

He stressed, "The integrity of individuals or groups must be
respected at all times."

The Lambeth Conference also asked the Anglican Network for
Inter-Faith Concerns (NIFCON) to "monitor Muslim-Christian
relationships." The Church's international umbrella-body, the
Anglican Consultative Council was also asked to consider how to
provide NIFCON with more funding and personnel resources.

For further information, contact:

   Lambeth Conference Communications
   Canterbury Business School
   University of Kent at Canterbury
   Telephone: 01227 827348/9
   Fax: 01227 828085
   Mobile: 0374 800212

   http://www.lambethconference.org