As I sat in the midst of a Bible study at the Falls Church last Friday, I began to think about what good interfaith work should entail, and how receptive others are to it. There I sat, amongst people with whom I have fundamental creedal differences. However, they showed me nothing less than a warm welcome and willingness to share their faith with me. My few months at Buxton have revealed some exciting possibilities when it comes to interfaith dialogue, particularly in a framework that doesn’t compromise religious beliefs.
I have faced two typical reactions when talking to others about the work I am trying to do. The first is a very vocal skepticism or dismissal of interfaith work altogether. I have heard reactions like “I don’t really believe in interfaith work…what use is it?” or “Don’t you just get the same people together who are already for pluralism, you aren’t really reaching the people that are the most antagonizing.” I was taken aback at first by this harsh resistance to interfaith work. Rather than respond with some sort of apologetics, my appreciation for the importance and impact of being involved in interfaith has grown, and it shows when I talk about what I do with putting together interfaith events.
The second type of response I get is “that’s so great; someone needs to be doing this kind of work. I wish I knew enough to get involved” or “I would love to do interfaith work, but I don’t necessarily feel comfortable putting my faith out there publicly.” People feel they need to pass a certain threshold of knowledge about other faiths, and they need to be ready to be attacked for their religious beliefs. These sort of fear-driven issues are completely understandable, and they keep a lot of potential champions of interfaith work from stepping up.
Others are taking the risks and seeing the positive outcomes of well-intentioned interfaith work. One is Doug Johnston from the International Center for Religion and Diplomacy, who has attended our last couple of events and spoke at our last Young Buxton meeting. Another is a young woman, only a senior in high school, who I met recently at training with Unity Productions Foundation. Having someone of school-age passionate about the need to reach across religious lines truly inspires me to carry on.
I like to think back on the words of a visionary taken from this Earth far too early, Bobby Kennedy. Like those involved interfaith work today, he had to face both those who were exclusionists, and those who thought of interfaith cooperation as of secondary importance. In The Pursuit of Justice (1964), He wrote: “Ultimately, America’s answer to the intolerant man is diversity, the very diversity which our heritage of religious freedom has inspired.” That religious freedom is something dear; it’s something we need more people fighting for.
