- Start with the epistemological question – How do we discern the Truth? Notice truth here is with a capital “T.” Because we all know truths – today is Wednesday and I haven’t had dinner yet. We also all have glimpses of Absolute Truth – we see, in the love of our parents, a hint of the love of God/Allah. We have glimpses.
- However, Absolute Truth resides only in God.
- So how do we approach Absolute Truth? Through conversation, debate, dialogue, and prayer (which is really just another form of conversation).
- Children today do not see their parents as much as most of us did when we were growing up. They don’t see their parents discussing, debating, arguing, and making up like we did. They are learning how to argue, debate and dialogue through the media. Think Jerry Springer.
- Civil Conversation – opposing viewpoints locked in civil conversation. This was John Courtney Murray’s definition of “Democracy.”
- We know how difficult conversation can be even between those who love each other. If we are incapable of doing it here, how can we hope to bring world religions and world powers to the table?
- What if we can’t?
- I read in a South Korean newspaper, as I was flying home (this story did not appear in the US press), that the US State Department had condemned human rights abuses in Fiji since last December’s (don’t remember the year) military coup. The Fiji Human Rights Commission responded that the US has no right to lecture anyone on human rights because of our recent history in Iraqi prisons. We have lost our credibility. We have lost our right to speak.
- When people condemn religion (John Lennon, “Imagine”), what are they actually condemning?
- Religious disagreements that lead to strife.
- Lack of respect for opposing viewpoints.
- Religious absolutism – which is really a form of idolatry.
- Where can we find common ground?
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer – Doctrine divides; Service unites.
- Rev. Ernst Larsen – “Tell them to care; just to care.”
- Compassion – The common ground
- Dalai Lama – the only thing we can bring to the table is compassion – promoting the understanding of how the other party (opponent, dialogue partner) feels.
- We have been robbed of compassion by the images we find in the media
- Sitting in front of the TV, having dinner, watching villages napalmed during Viet Nam War.
- How can we recover compassion?
- We must “image” the God we want people to meet. And, I suggest, that God will be “Compassion.”
- Or else, we will loose whatever credibility we have left.
What are some common misconceptions about your faith (religion)?
For Catholics today, it is that there is only one way of being Catholic. Although Graham Greene once defined Catholicism as the religion of “Here comes everybody!”