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Trends and Developments in Interreligious Dialogue

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Trends and Developments in Interreligious Dialogue GEORG EVERS TRENDS AND DEVELOPMENTS IN INTERRELIGIOUS DIALOGUE General Remarks This article will again explore the state of interreligious interactions and dialogue during the past year. It is a vast area to survey, because there are so many activi- ties and events in which religions play a role and that are expressions of a con- tinuous interest in promoting the cause of religious cooperation in battling the many problems of today’s world. In general it can be said that the number of interreligious conferences and encounters has been constantly increasing in recent years. But this numerical growth does not automatically imply that mutual unders- tanding of the religious traditions other than one’s own has increased at the same rate. Only too often “experts” in interreligious dialogue and official representa- tives of religious organizations meet in closed circles. Cardinal Jean Tauran, President of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, lamented the fact that the results of important conferences on interreligious dialogue do not reach ordinary believers. He made this statement at the close of the Christian-Muslim encounter in the Vatican in February 2009. In a similar way, the Jesuit Christian Troll, expert in Islam and counsellor to the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, deplored that the results of important meetings between Christian and Muslim representatives in the Vatican and Egypt in the last two years are not known to Christian and Muslim students in seminaries or Muslim training centres (madrassah). To remedy this situation topics and activities in the field of interreli- gious dialogue should deal more with issues relevant to the actual problems of our times. Thus, in the present global financial crisis, many people and organizations are expecting spiritual guidance from religious leaders in discovering the root causes of the problems arising from collective and individual greed. The recent encyclical by Benedict XVI, Caritas in Veritate, on the social doctrine of the Ca- tholic Church, published one day before the G8 Summit in Aquila on July 7, 2009, is one example of a religious leader trying to discern the present global eco- nomic crisis and to propose principles in the tradition of Catholic social teaching indispensable to human development that could lead to a more just economic and social order in the future. There was another positive trend to be observed, namely that the radical groups that are engaged in violence in the name of religions and commit terrorist acts are losing public support. This could be seen, for example, in the national election results in Indonesia in April 2009 where the support for the Islamist political parties had decreased. In view of the presidential elections later in the year, 215 STUDIES IN INTERRELIGIOUS DIALOGUE 19 (2009) 2 leaders of the main religions in Indonesia rejected in a common statement any use of religions during the election campaign. It came as a surprise to many that in the national elections in Lebanon in June 2009 the radical group of Hizballah did not win the expected majority but suffered a defeat in their attempt to realize their programme of the Islamization of the country. In India, too, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which was expected to win in the 15th national elections held in April and May 2009, lost heavily to the Congress Party. The outcome of the election was seen by many as an indication that the ideology of the radical Hindu groups does not find the support some ob- servers had feared. While reporting these positive signs that religious and secular people loathe and are fed up with terrorist activities perpetrated in the name of religion, it cannot be denied that in the past year we have seen many, too many, incidents where reli- gious minorities have been persecuted, their houses and religious buildings de- stroyed, their women raped and many of their members murdered. The most horri- fying acts happened in the Indian state of Orissa where Christians became the vic- tims of radical Hindu groups. In Pakistan we hear of repeated attacks against Christians and members of other religions by radical Muslim groups who accuse them of having committed acts of blasphemy against the Prophet Muhammad or the Qur’an. In the civil war in Sri Lanka that was brought to a bloody end by the Sri Lankan army, which crushed the military structure of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), religious leaders played a doubtful and partial role. This did not help to bring real peace to the island. In the southern Philippines terrorist acts in the name of Islamist groups against civilians have been increasing. Anti-Jewish Attitudes among Members of the Society of St. Pius X In a letter written by the German district superior of the Society of St. Pius X and sent to all German bishops, P. Franz Schmidberger demanded the German bishops change their erroneous attitude towards the Jews. In the letter Schmidberger al- leged that it is false to call the Jews living today among us “our elder brethren in the faith,” as Pope John Paul II had done during his visit to the synagogue in Rome in 1986. Schmidberger contended that as long as the Jews do not accept Jesus as the Son of God by being baptized and distance themselves from the guilt of their ancestors for the death of Jesus, they too are guilty of having killed God’s Son. Furthermore, the Society announced that they were going to continue using the old formula of the prayer in the Good Friday liturgy for the conversion of the Jews, and not the revised formula presented by the present pope Benedict XVI. The Central Committee of Jews in Germany demanded that the German bishops distance themselves from this statement that repeats the worst accusations against Jews used in the past by anti-Semites and that led to persecutions in the past and finally to the Shoah. 216 TRENDS AND CONFERENCES In an attempt to make a positive contribution to Jewish-Christian relations the Central Committee of German Catholics published a statement that stated clearly that it is no longer justified today to engage in missionary activity directed to the conversion of Jews to the Christian faith. This well-meant initiative, however, caused some harsh reactions from the German bishops. Bishop Gerhard Ludwig Müller of Regensburg, responsible for ecumenical affairs in the German Bishops’ Conference, declared that the position expressed by the Central Committee of German Catholics was not in accordance with the official position of the Catholic Church regarding Judaism. Bishop Müller took offence especially at the thesis that God’s first covenant with the Jews constitutes a sufficient and legitimate way of salvation for them. This position, thus the objection of the German Bishops’ Conference, is said to deviate from the authentic teaching of the Church on mis- sion in general and mission towards the Jews in particular. It was small wonder that the declaration of the Central Committee of German Catholics was also de- nounced by Franz Schmidberger, the Regional Superior of the Society of St. Pius X, who called it heretical and a deviation from Catholic doctrine and against the Bible. At the beginning of January 2009 the Rabbi of Venice, Elio Enrico Richetti, wrote in an article in the Jesuit journal Popoli that under Benedict XVI Jewish-Christian dialogue has been set back more than 50 years. As a reason for this negative as- sessment of the state of Jewish-Christian relations, Richetti referred to the changes in the renewed Latin version of the prayer for the Jews in the Good Friday liturgy, which he sees as a return to the old position that Jews can find salvation and fulfilment of their religious calling only if they become Christians. Prior to the changes in the Good Friday liturgy Rabbi Richetti noted that statements contained in the declaration Dominus Jesus, published by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on August 6, 2000, when the then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was its president, were unacceptable to Jews and offended their religious feelings because this declaration also describes conversion to Christianity as intended in God’s plan for the salvation of all humankind, Jews included. Richetti draws the conclu- sion that by claiming such an absolute superiority for Christianity, it becomes ob- vious that Benedict XVI sees Jewish-Christian dialogue only as rather super- fluous. Another issue negatively influencing Jewish-Christian relations is the planned beatification of Pope Pius XII who is accused of having failed to defend the Jews against Nazi persecution. Riccardo Di Segni, the Chief Rabbi of Rome, however, denies that the Jewish community is against Pius XII’s beatification, because this is an internal issue that concerns only the Catholic Church. Richetti’s article was written to explain why the Italian Conference of Rabbis had decided not to take part in the annual celebration of the “Day of Judaism,” organized by the Italian Bishops' Conference for January 17, 2009. Cardinal Walter Kasper, responsible for Jewish-Christian relations in the Vatican, rejected this accusation, claiming that, on the contrary, Benedict XVI is convinced that Judaism and Chris- 217 STUDIES IN INTERRELIGIOUS DIALOGUE 19 (2009) 2 tianity share so many fundamental values that there is a real need that the two engage in mutual dialogue, rather than fight each other. When Pope Benedict XVI lifted the excommunication of the four bishops of the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X on January 25, 2009, this act, which was meant to be nothing more than a pastoral act of mercy. led to a further deteriora- tion of the relationship between the Holy See and the Jewish community.
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