The Four Principles of
Interfaith Dialogue and Future Of Religion
by Kenneth Kracknell
"All studies of inter-group
relations point to apparently inherent needs to caricature
and stereotype non-members of particular groups, 'the
outsiders'. It seems that such tendencies are acerbated when
religion is the chief factor in forming group consciousness.
So, from the 'inside' of Christianity we murmur about the
legalist attitudes of Judaism, the stark monotheism of
Islam, the idolatry of Hinduism, the militancy of Sikhism,
the atheism of Buddhism and the brainwashed gullibility of
followers of new religious movements. Yet an encounter in
some depth with followers of any of these paths will put an
end to such glib generalisations. Jews believe in love and
forgiveness just as much as Christians; Muslims have often
penetrated deeply into the meaning of what it means to call
God 'the merciful, the compassionate'; very many Hindus are
entirely monotheist and no more idolatrous than Christians
who may use crucifixes and icons in their devotional life;
few people are more gentle or generous than followers of the
Guru Nanak; Buddhists have much to teach Christians about
'selflessness' and 'detachment' (the Buddha's silence about
God is not atheism as we know it). My own long experience
with ISKCON devotees tells me that they are as rational and
clearheaded as Christian believers, no more and no less (we
have irrational and wooly-headed Christians too).
But such ideas and conceptions
cannot be a matter of mere assertion from some expert or
other if people are fundamentally to change their minds and
hearts and get rid of their prejudices. Only personal
encounter in some depth enables us to hold more generous and
honest convictions about other religious paths and ways.
Only personal knowledge can enable us to speak the whole
truth and nothing other than the truth about their
followers. ...
But meanwhile Hindus and Christians, along with Jews,
Muslims, Buddhists, Sikhs and Jains live in a world of
threatening ecological disaster, in which there are finite
and diminishing resources, violence and war, drug dependence
and neurosis. The religious vision and experience of all
humanity is needed now as never before if we are to avoid
our cosmic cataclysm. No doubt 'religion' is a source of
fanaticism, conflict, bigotry, vicious hatred (on religious
'systems' see below) , it often functions as the bearer of
racist, classist, sexist ideology, and is capable of
manipulation by malign and unscrupulous persons. But more,
much more, it is the treasure-house and repository of the
human spirit at its best, or at its most inspired. ...
Religious
research and scholarship will find a way of uniting all
religious traditions, making one great world religious
system in which all religious communities will find a place,
and in which none will be excluded.
This is the dream which sustained
many of the pioneers in the world interfaith movement, and
which in developed and nuanced form still motivates men and
women in interfaith dialogue. It takes at least two forms.
One is a deliberate and careful 'syncretism' of all the best
elements in the world's religious traditions often using
some mystical basis to make the choice, as in the 'perennial
philosophy'. A well-known form of this kind of syncretism is
atheosophy'. The other form is a deliberately constructed
metaphysical framework or ideology in which all religious
truth may find its place. Certain forms of Hinduism have
claimed to offer just such a metaphysic ...
I give an example of the indication
in Christian scriptures that we can only dimly grasp what is
in store for us. We are told that we have still to be led
into all the truth (John, 16.13). In the present time we can
only see 'in a mirror, dimly' (1 Corinthians 13.12). It has
not yet been revealed what we shall be (1 John 3.2) and we
look for a time when 'll creation is set free from its
bondage to decay' and when all of us obtain 'the freedom of
the glory of the children of God' (Romans, 8.21). He who is
the 'Eschatos' as well as the 'Protos', the End of all Ends,
the Omega for all the Alphas (Revelation, 21.6) still has to
make 'll things new' (Revelation, 21.5). 'You ain't seen
nothing yet', is thus an ungrammatical but accurate guide to
our present situation as Christians. I think that there are
indications in the Bhagavad-gita and in other sacred
writings that the future is not as we currently suppose and
that for Vaisnavas the situation is not dissimilar. 'You
ain't seen nothing yet', applies to all who believe that God
is active and working our God's own divine plan."
Kenneth Kracknell
The Four Principles of Interfaith Dialogue and Future Of
Religion
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Shri
Mataji Nirmala Devi
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"You
have to take a stand in your family, in your surroundings,
with your friends, and you have to tell them, "You better
all get realized." The reason for that is that the Christ
who crucified Himself is going to come back with his Eleven
Forces of Destruction. And when He starts He is not going to
ask you to take any Realization. No one is going to be
bothered whether you are going to hell. He will just sort
out. But those who have got Realization will enter into the
Kingdom of God. You have to enter into the Kingdom of God
here
(see
photo),
as I say, in the Seventh Chakra.“
Shri
Sahasrarambujarudha
Devi
The
New Age Has Started, Houston, USA — Oct. 6, 1981
(
Sahasrarambujarudha
(106th): She ascends the Sahasrara-chakra. She dwells there
as saksi or chitkala in the liberated souls. This is Moksa)
