Interfaith dialogue is an interaction among people with different religion and cultural background. It is to respect and live in harmony with each other so that we can live in a peaceful world. Due to globalization we constantly interact with people from different faiths and only through understanding interfaith dialogue we can cooperate and work or live with them.

Interfaith Engagement

The following are some of the seven principles of interfaith engagement:

We live in a world where we have different faiths:

The people of the world have distinct religion. Everyone believes in something and have different beliefs. It is important to respect the faiths of other people and not judge them for what they believe. Some people say that each religion is a different path to the same mountain but others believe that those paths lead to various mountains. But whatever be the path, we need to focus on the final destination and learn to appreciate the faiths of different people. Most of our religions have many similarities, and we can concentrate on such similarities and live in harmony than to spot the difference and be in conflict with each other.

People of different religion have a different understanding of the other religions:

Pluralism is the idea that other religion might be as good as my religion is for me. We need to understand pluralism and respect the religious faith of others. It may be very important to them just like how our faiths and beliefs are important to us. Inclusivism is the assumption that other religion might have values which may be worth considering or engaging.

The differences between two religions might be different from the difference of other religion:

For example, the difference between Christians and Muslims will be different from those of Hindus and Muslims. Each faith may have various definitions to define them. The thing we need to understand here is that the world is filled with people of different diversities and thus we need to learn to let people believe in whatever faiths they choose to believe.

Understanding the interfaith perspectives:

People who want to promote interreligious cooperation need to understand the various aspects of different faiths on social issues. Many people feel that since the social norms and laws are changed, their religious freedom is under constant attack.

It is nice to know about different religion:

It is always good to understand what others faith. If people are so passionate about their religious beliefs instead of mocking them or finding the differences, we can try to learn what they believe in and try to respect them for their faith.