Dialogue lacks substance without true witness of faith, speakers say

Published: 2007-01-18

UNITED NATIONS (CNS) -- One thing the three Abrahamic religions can agree on is that the buzzword "dialogue" lacks substance without the true witness of faith. At a Jan. 17 panel discussion at the United Nations on "Peoples and Religions," representatives of Catholicism, Islam and Judaism cautioned against interreligious relationships in which differences are papered over in the name of tolerance. Not only is peace between religions a prerequisite for peace between peoples, said Seyyed Hossein Nasr, professor of Islamic studies at George Washington University, but religion must actually remain religious for any peace to come about. "That is, if each religion is able to preserve something of its absoluteness, of its permanence." He said, "We cannot relativize our path to God. At the same time, we have to accept the possibility of other ways to God." The Vatican's Permanent Observer Mission to the United Nations sponsored the panel to mark the American launch of the biannual journal Oasis. Other panelists were Cardinal Angelo Scola of Venice, Italy; Rabbi Israel Singer, chairman of the policy council of the World Jewish Congress; and Carl Anderson, supreme knight of the Knights of Columbus.

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