Rules for Interfaith Dialogue

Rules for Interfaith Dialogue

Robert M. Brown

1. Each partner must believe the other is speaking in good faith.

2. Each partner must have a clear understanding of his/his own faith.

3. Each partner must strive for a clear understanding of the other’s.

a. There must be a willingness to interpret the other’s faith in the best light, rather than the worst.

b. Each partner must maintain a continual willingness to revise his/her understanding of the other’s faith.

4. Each partner must accept responsibility, in humility and penitence for what his/her group has done, is doing, to foster and perpetuate division.

5. Each partner must face the issues that cause separation, as well as those which create unity.

6. Each partner must recognize that all that can be done with the dialogue is to offer it up to God

The Dialogue Decalogue

Leonard Swidler

I. Dialogue to learn, to change, and to grow, and act accordingly.

II. Dialogue to share and receive from others

III. Dialogue with honesty and sincerity

IV. Dialogue comparing ideals with ideals, and practice with practice

V. Dialogue to define yourself and to learn the self-definition of others

VI. Dialogue with no hard and fast assumptions about someone else’s beliefs

VII. Dialogue to share with equals

VIII. Dialogue in trust

IX. Dialogue in willingness to look at your own beliefs and traditions critically

X. Dialogue seeking to understanding the other person’s beliefs from within

The Interfaith Agenda

Douglas Kindschi, Ph.D.

Tolerance: allowing difference without resorting to violence

Hospitality: receiving the stranger, even though you might disagree or have different values

Understanding: communicating my own views and listening to other views I may not share

Respect: demonstrating regard, esteem, and honor

Acceptance: accepting the other without having conversion as the goal

"Holy Envy:" recognizing admirable elements in other faiths and wishing that they were reflected in one’s own faith