wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] Dialogue more than talk,

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Note #8763 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

05309
June 10, 2005

Dialogue more than talk, Muslim scholar says

Platitudes just won't do, speaker tells WCC audience 

by Peter Kenny
Ecumenical News International	  

GENEVA - Interfaith dialogue that does not deal with the harsh realities of
life but only with platitudes can only fail, a well-known European Muslim
scholar told a large multi-faith gathering hosted in Geneva by the World
Council of Churches (WCC).     
      "It is easy here to trust one another ... but in our daily life it is
not," Tariq Ramadan, a lecturer and scholar in Islamic studies, told about
125 Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh, Zoroastrian and other
religious leaders.  
	Last year, the University of Notre Dame in the United States, a Roman
Catholic institution, invited Ramadan to teach Islamic philosophy and ethics
at its Kroc Institute for Peace Studies. But shortly before he was to start,
the U.S. government, without elaboration, revoked his visa on the basis of
national security.	 
       "We can assess the present situation as a critical moment for all     
religious communities," Ramadan said on the final day of the June 7-9 Geneva
conference. "There is a great deal of mistrust and suspicion on both sides.
Christian-Muslim relations often start from a perspective of competition, as
both proclaim a universal message."	  
       The conference sought to shift inter-religious relations from dialogue
to common action, including new education and training programs and exchanges
fostering a culture of dialogue. 
	The Rev. Samuel Kobia, the WCC general secretary, told Ecumenical
News  International: "This conference will help us to go beyond dialogue and
enter into a stage of cooperation and coordination of interfaith and
multi-faith work."	 
	Ramadan said, "Very often we (people at a gathering like this) are
perceived of as naive." He noted that, in order to "spread spaces of mutual
trust," a "critical mind" must be built, which means that people must
confront difficult attitudes in their own spheres.    
       Another Muslim speaker, Heba Raouf Ezzat, an Egyptian political
scientist and writer for the "Islam Online" Web site, had earlier noted that
more people are returning to faith, but not necessarily to institutional
religion.	
       The real conflict is not between civilizations or religions, she said,
but between humanity and anti-humanity. All people share a common human
condition, and the role of religion is "to preserve, foster and secure
civility" in an age that is hostile to it, she said.
	Ezzat noted that all faiths share common values and live within the
same modern conditions. She concurred with other speakers in rejecting
proselytizing.	       
       The conference organizer, the Rev. Hans Ucko, a WCC specialist on
interfaith issues, said: "This event was unique because it sought to assess
dialogue, and looked at ways of fostering relations which are more realistic
and less idealistic. We confirmed the commitment of those involved, and this
adds impetus to our own Christian engagement in dialogue."

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