wfn.org | WCC FEATURE: Faith, religion, modernity: a critical moment

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World Council of Churches - Feature
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For immediate release - 08/06/2005

FAITH, RELIGION, MODERNITY: A CRITICAL MOMENT

By Gilbert Friend-Jones (*)

The summer tranquillity of Lake Geneva contrasts sharply with the sense of
urgency in the nearby Ecumenical Centre, headquarters of the World Council
of Churches. The feeling is shared by the broad group of religious
leaders, academic specialists and grassroots activists from virtually all
the major world faith communities who have come together to reflect on a
"critical moment" in interreligious dialogue.

Like the proverbial blind villagers trying to describe an elephant,
conference participants began the meeting by identifying different aspects
of the "post-modern" challenge before them. Economic and cultural
globalization, the massive migrations and dislocations of people, the
amplification of the "culture of violence", the confluence of religious
extremism with political agendas, the abuse and impoverishment of millions
of people - all are factors accelerating the process of social change and
religious upheaval in the world.

> Beyond adventurous spirituality

The critical moment concerns all religious communities directly. The hope
expressed by many of the faith leaders is to push interreligious cooperation to new levels of relevance for a world in crisis. Their appreciation of
the "adventurous" spirituality that dialogue has enabled in recent decades
is matched by a conviction that interreligious cooperation must now move
further to involve more people in more creative ways to overcome divisions
that threaten humanity.

Reminding participants of the WCC's 30-year history of interfaith
dialogue, general secretary Samuel Kobia asked, "How can we live together
our diversity and differences in one world?" WCC moderator Catholicos Aram
I went further, urging the conference to help the world's religions to
move beyond coexistence into genuine community, and into nurturing a
spirituality of reflecting, living and working together.

"Religions must act, they must act together and urgently. Let us participate in God's transformation of His world, our common household. Let us
commit ourselves to make humanity more humane. The new world situation
with its complexities, uncertainties and challenges calls for a credible
dialogue, greater partnership and closer collaboration between the
religions," he appealed.

> Widening presence at the table in a post-conversion era

Yet the gap between dialogue and local realities can seem striking. Dr
Wande Abimbola, a high priest of the Yorùbá religion from Nigeria, was
sharply critical of much interreligious dialogue which, he said, has too
often been half-hearted and insincere, and often excluded authentic
representatives of the worlds primal religions.

"Even today Christians and Muslims continue to seek to convert adherents
of indigenous religions; they wantonly destroy temples, icons and holy
relics of traditional religions," he deplored. Abimbola urged the presence
of all religious traditions at the table of dialogue and insisted that
their contribution be taken seriously in efforts to solve problems facing
the world.

Dr Heba Raouf Ezzat, an Egyptian Muslim political scientist and writer for
the "Islam Online" website, sketched a different vision of the postmodern
age. In our hunger for identity, she said, growing numbers of people are
returning to faith, but not necessarily to organized, institutional
religion. The real conflict is not between civilizations or religions, but
between humanity and anti-humanity, she pointed out. We share a common
human condition, and the role of religion is "to preserve, foster and
secure civility" in an age that is extremely hostile to it.

Ezzat argued that we must move to a "post-conversion" era, in which faith
communities go beyond proselytism to transformation. Religions must not be
concerned just with blatant eruptions of violence such as war, but with
structural violence that governs many societies and relationships. People
desire a return to a sense of community in response to the modern world,
she said.

All faiths share common values and live within the same modern conditions
which underline traditional understandings. Religions must give passion to
people as a way of taming the sweeping capitalization of the world, she
said. "We must keep the human heart beating. We will need each other to
help people to respond."

Kobia echoed her concern, saying that if there is a "missionary impulse"
today, it must be to convince people of our common community and values.
"If there is anything that we need to convert, it is the mentality of
people to become true human persons," he said. "Our common missionary
vocation is to transform the world to be truly human, to recover our
common humanity."

> Towards a new quality of dialogue

Conference participants articulated a common concern when they urged a new
quality of interreligious dialogue. Can dialogue enable the religions to
identify common values for our common humanity? Can it strengthen the
moral authority of religion in the public arena? Can it move from words to
actions, and from actions to a deeper level of shared commitment?

In the words of Swami Agnivesh, an Indian spiritual leader and social
activist, "after a century of interreligious dialogue, we now need a new
approach. Dialogue must be seen as a spiritual tool, and not an end in
itself. Our horizontal dialogue with each other must be directed by our
vertical dialogue with God. We must integrate correct words with creative
deeds, and so unleash the spiritual power that would liberate the people
and transform societies. Nothing less than this is acceptable as the goal
of the inter-faith movement for the third millennium."

(*) Rev. Dr Gilbert R. Friend-Jones is the senior minister of Central
Congregational United Church of Christ in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. He is a
founding member and director of the Faith Alliance of Metro Atlanta (FAMA)
and the interfaith World Pilgrims.

This feature is part of a series highlighting issues and experience of
interreligious dialogue, and is published by the WCC in the context of the
conference on a "critical moment in interreligious dialogue" hosted by the
WCC, 7-9 June 2005, in Geneva. Further information, news, documents and
photos are available on:
http://www.oikoumene.org/interreligious.html

Opinions expressed in WCC Features do not necessarily reflect WCC policy.
This material may be reprinted freely, providing credit is given to the
author.

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The World Council of Churches is a fellowship of churches, now 347, in
more than 120 countries in all continents from virtually all Christian
traditions. The Roman Catholic Church is not a member church but works
cooperatively with the WCC. The highest governing body is the assembly,
which meets approximately every seven years. The WCC was formally
inaugurated in 1948 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Its staff is headed by
general secretary Samuel Kobia from the Methodist church in Kenya.