DIALOGUE among religions for fraternity among peoples

The world is changing dramatically, and becoming a multicultural and multi-faith society. While this brings with it xenophobia, religious intolerance, and the fear of a clash of civilizations, the Focolare Movement is engaged in the promotion of dialogue among religions. The religious pluralism of the world’s peoples ought not to be the cause of divisions and war, rather it ought to contribute to the reestablishment in fraternity of the unity of the human family.

Spirituality is the place where this dialogue has proved especially productive. We have become increasingly convinced during the recent decades of dialogue that what the faithful of other religions expect from Christians is a practical witness to the love found in the Gospel.

It is not by chance that the golden rule “Do not do to others what you would not have them do to you” is common to all major religions.

In the atmosphere of mutual love which accompanies the practice of the golden rule, dialogue may be established.

This demands that we “make ourselves one” with the other person, to “live the other.” This is not just kindness, openness and esteem, it is a practice that requires the complete “emptiness” of ourselves to become one with the others, to “enter beneath the skin of the other” and understand more deeply what it means to the other to be a Muslim, a Hindu, a Buddhist.

The effect is twofold: it helps us to become inculturated, to know the religion and language of the other, and it predisposes the other to listen.

Then we can move on to “proclamation with respect” when, true to God and ourselves, and in sincerity towards our neighbor, we can say what our faith teaches on the subject we are speaking about, without imposing anything on the other, with no hint of proselytism, and out of love.

Thus we will both grow in mutual knowledge.

The effect of dialogue

The effect of dialogue in this spirit of unity is not syncretism, but the rediscovery of our own religious roots, and of what unites us, the lived experience of fraternity.

What is strengthened is the common commitment to be builders of peace and unity, especially where violence and racial and religious intolerance threaten to drive a wedge between different parts of society.

Common humanitarian projects flourish.

This is the desire of Pope Benedict XVI and other religious leaders: “If together we can succeed in eliminating from hearts any trace of rancor, in resisting every form of intolerance and opposing every manifestation of violence, we will turn back the wave of cruel fanaticism that endangers the lives of so many people and hinders progress towards world peace. The task is difficult but not impossible.

The believer—and all of us, as Christians and Muslims, are believers—knows that, despite his weakness, he can count on the spiritual power of prayer.” (Benedict XVI, Meeting with Representatives of Some Muslim Communities.

Cologne, August 20, 2005) A founding event In 1977, Chiara Lubich was in London to receive the Templeton Prize for “progress in religion.” At the Guildhall, she spoke about her experience to leaders of many different religions, and many of those present in the hall responded warmly.

Since that time interfaith dialogue has become an integral part of the Movement’s aims: “Straight away,” Chiara says, “I realized that this moment was a “turning point” for our movement.

I understood that we had to address ourselves to people of other religions, letting the Holy Spirit show us what to do and how to do it.” From 1994 Chiara Lubich has been an honorary president of the World Conference of Religions for Peace (WCRP).

The Movement has been represented since 1979 at world assemblies of the WCRP and at its regional meetings and activities.

Formation for dialogue

A permanent school for interfaith dialogue has been established in the little town of Tagaytay (near Manila in the Philippines), a meeting place which helps to deepen the Focolare spirituality in Asia.

Another school for dialogue is based in the little town of Luminosa in the USA.

As a means for getting to know one another better, the “Luminosa Prize” is awarded every year to people from different religions who are involved in dialogue for peace.

Progress

Due to the universal expansion of the Movement, there is a dialogue carried out with all the main religions of the world.

This is not only with individual members or leaders of those faiths, but also with the leaders and followers of large movements, such as the Buddhist lay movement, Rissho Koseikai, with 6 million adherents; the Muslim American Society (USA) with more than 2 million, and the Swadhyaya Family (India) that has 8 million adherents, mostly Hindu.

There are about 30,000 members of other religions who live in their own measure the spirit of the Movement and are committed to the same aims.

New City

Back to top

UNITY in Religions and Politics

Honorable Sunggon Kim, a Member of the National Assembly in Korea, Chairman of the Defense Committee, and at the same time the Secretary General of the Asian Conference for Religion and Peace, shared with us his thoughts on religion and politics last February 6, 2008 at the Manila Golf Club. He was present with some Philippine politicians at the launching of the Political Movement for Unity (PMU) in the Philippines.

At 20 years old, I had great religious questions: if there is One God, why there are so many religions on earth and what is their relationship to the One God? Is there only one Truth or are there many truths? The Christian church teaches that only through Jesus Christ can we be saved.

What about the destiny of all Buddhists and all Muslims after death? Will they go to hell or heaven? So eventually I became a student of religions and then a professor of religions in college.

My conclusion about these questions was this—the most important goal of religions is to help people understand and practice unity—the One God. This is why Judaism, Christianity and Islam equally emphasize the One God. Eastern religions also teach that the Truth is One, although they call it by different names.

Thus, unity is the central concept in most religions, and it provides the metaphysical basis for universal love toward all humankind, and for the scientific laws of natural phenomenon.

In the history of mankind, many different religions have sprung up, but these historical religions are somehow related to the One God in its own particular way. (...) It is like an invisible Divine Spirit which is incarnated in the different forms of religion according to their different histories and cultures.
Thus for the enlightened, the followers of these religions are like-minded pilgrims pursuing the same goal. Sometimes we need to listen to valuable teachings from our neighbor’s religion, and we need dialogue to solve common problems regarding the environment, human rights, peace and justice.

WCRP (World Conference for Religion and Peace) and ACRP (Asian Conference for Religion and Peace) are international organizations that try to promote mutual understanding and cooperation among different world religions. The former was founded in 1970 and the latter, in 1976.
ACRP will have its 7th General Assembly this coming October 17, 2008 in Manila.

The Focolare Movement has contributed a lot since the beginning to WCRP and ACRP. I witnessed how the Focolare members were the most beautiful and self-sacrificing helpers in inter-faith dialogue and cooperation. What both the Focolare and our ACRP are commonly pursuing are two kinds of unity—the unity of God (or Unity of Truth), and the unity of mankind. The former is a Vertical Unity and the latter is a Horizontal Unity.

These two kinds of unity are in accord with the two commandments—love your God and love your neighbors. These two kinds of unity are inseparable from each other, because the more we become one with God, the more we become one with our neighbors. But it is not just in the world of religions, but also in all fields of mankind that the spirit of unity should be actualized. It should also be in politics, the economy, education, science, arts and everywhere.

Among these fields of human life, it is in politics that unity is most necessary, but also where it is least practiced, unfortunately. Politics is the place where all important decisions are made. For example, it is the politician who makes laws that influence the lives of people. Politicians also start a war or can stop a war. If politicians are divided, then people are divided, and if politicians are corrupt, the whole society suffers.

Unity in politics is also of two kinds as in the case of unity of religions. The first Unity is the unity with God (or unity with our original nature or the Buddha Nature, in Buddhist terms). The second unity is unity with people or unity with mankind. The second unity also refers to the unity with our fellow politicians and those of other parties. But in politics, it seems very difficult to realize both kinds of unity for some reasons. Instead of unity, what we see are splits, separation, conflicts, collisions, confrontations, fights, wars, etc.

In Korea, we had a very interesting poll done by Korean Gallop a few years ago. In Korea, the most respectable job is the clergy, especially those of Catholic priests and Buddhist monks. Then what do you think is the least respectable job in Korea? It is that of a politician, especially being a member of the National Assembly like myself. For a long time in Korea now, politicians, along with tycoons, have been the symbol of corruption and injustice. Nonetheless, more than two thirds of Korean Congressmen are either Christians or Buddhists.

I begin to question why are these politicians not respected while their clergies are most respectable? I found the answer. It is because these politicians are not faithful to their religious teachings. Are they hypocritical? Or is politics essentially an evil job? Somebody even said that a good Catholic priest, if he becomes a politician, can’t but be corrupt or become a liar. Whether corruption is an individual matter or a part of the system, if politics is corrupt, we should do our best to correct it, because politics is an inevitable part of human life.

Then how can we cleanup our politics? Is it through revolutions or criticism of our politicians? Sometimes we may need criticism or even revolutions to cleanup our politics. However, the PMU of the Focolare Movement teaches that the best method to cleanup our politics is through love and unity. It may sound too naïve. Yes, it sounds naïve. But it is Gandhi’s Hindu principle of ‘ahimsa (non-violence) that made the British withdraw from India. It is Martin Luther King’s sincere faith in God and love for his people that helped end discrimination against the black people in USA. Thus, by loving God and by loving our people, politics can truly be improved and people can attain true happiness.

The pursuit of unity in politics does not mean that all politicians have to belong to the same party disregarding all the differences between parties. As all the different instruments make up a beautiful harmony in an orchestra, politicians in various parties can raise different voices without producing hatred and collision, if they are truly united with their God and their people. By tuning in to God and mankind, politicians can give hope to the people, and earn respect from them.

In case of myself, I am always tempted by money, women, fame, etc. Whenever I face a trial or temptations, I always try to be one with the Tao, another name for the ultimate Truth in Chinese religions. With this disposition, I can overcome trials and serve my people in the right way. This is what the members of the PMU in Korea are pursuing, and through this method, no matter how slow it is, we are sure that our politics can be improved.

In Korea, a married Focolare member, Angela Joo, started PMU. She is an ordinary housewife, but full of spirit and courage. Angela attended the international conference of the New Humanity Movement in Rome in 1996 and learned that Chiara Lubich, the founder of Focolare Movement had started PMU. Since then she dreamed of founding a PMU in Korea. She prepared and prayed for 8 years. Finally after the general election of 2004, she was introduced to several MPs, including myself. I myself had also hoped to found this kind of political movement, but I have realized it was not easy. I doubted whether Angela who had no political experience would succeed in founding the political movement. But every time I met her and listened to their experience of unity in their lives, together with my colleagues in politics, we were moved by their sincerity and compassion. Finally, we decided to found a PMU in Korea after 3 years of preparation.

Now every month we have a small group meeting just for regular members and also an open meeting quarterly where we invite other politicians. We have a big event every anniversary and even attend international PMU meetings. I sincerely hope that PMU will be started in the Philippines as well, so that Philippine politics can be improved and Filipinos may enjoy better lives.

Honorable Sunggon Kim

Back to top