Insufficiency of Mere Dialogue for the 21St Century

Insufficiency of mere "dialogue" for the 21st century An observation Half a century ago when the Western powers were loosening their grip on overseas colonies some Christian leaders ventured into what is now called "dialogue" to promote harmony and better understanding with people of different faiths such as Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam. Although this contributed towards better understanding among religious leaders, politicians and academics, it is now evident that the effect of dialogue is minimal among people of different religions. Many in Africa and Asia have hardly any idea of 'dialogue'. What is the reason for this?

People who belong to various faiths create their own philosophies of life in the sociological, cultural and political contexts they inhabit. Research shows that the ethnicity of people plays a vital role. It could be argued that religious harmony promoted without taking ethnicity seriously into account goes skin-deep and has less power to affect people at grass roots level. This can be seen in the tensions between Indian Hindus and Pakistani Muslims, between Palestinian Muslims and Israeli Jews in the Middle East and between Sinhala Buddhists and Hindu Tamils in Sri Lanka. The complexities of these show the need to focus on the problems of various ethno-religious identities if we are to achieve peace and harmony in the world. Here it is important to note that even in racial and ethnic studies religion was often not taken into serious account, perhaps supposing that this is a diminishing factor.

Universal religions such as Christianity, Buddhism and Islam have portrayed their faiths as being free from narrow ethnic limitations and open to all. This theoretical and theological position is often hardly visible in many so-called universal religions rooted in a particular socio-cultural context associated with specific ethnic groups. In this regard, the following observation by Fenggang Yang & Helen Rose Ebaugh on ethno-religious identities could be cited.

'First is "ethnic fusion," where religion is the foundation of ethnicity, or, ethnicity equals religion, such as in the case of the Amish and Jews. The second pattern is that of "ethnic religion," where religion is one of several foundations of ethnicity. The Greek or Russian orthodox and the Dutch reformed are examples of this type. In this pattern, ethnic identification can be claimed without claiming the religious identification, but the reverse is rare. The third form, "religious ethnicity," occurs where an ethnic group is linked to a religious tradition that is shared by other ethnic groups. The Irish, Italian, and Polish Catholics are such cases. In this pattern, religious identification can be claimed without claiming ethnic identification.'

This observation gives a glimpse of the complexities of this relationship, highlighting the necessity of further study and research to promote harmony between human beings who belong to various ethnicities and religions.

One concludes that it is the responsibility of the Christian Church - along with sister faiths - to make people aware of how ethno-religious identities can produce consequences (such as wars) affecting the whole of humanity.

Keerthisiri Fernando [email protected]