Interfaith in an era of political divisions

Voice of America news is a fundamentalist, Republican-biased newswire I subscribe to for the sake of earnestly reckoning with my preferences for inter-party dialogue.

I take it as a beacon of hope that, influenced by the inter-faith work of the last two decades by Bishop Swing of California and Pope John Paul II, they too are turning to a message of interfaith work.

Pray to God that the internicene battles between Christian and Muslim, Muslim and Jew, Catholic and Protestant, Fundamentalist and Progressive, may be assuaged by this great ministry of love.

"Catholicism is a language. Judaism is a language. Islam is a language. They have to be respected. They bring something unique and important, but they have to meet in a way in which they can converse with each other as if there was a kind of a spiritual Esperanto.

And I can speak to my peers and speak a common language, at the same time recognizing that the particular language has to be respected.

So I have to overcome the either-or notion and speak in term of the both-and notion."

-- Rabbi Schulweis, quoted in VOA News - Religious Leaders Should Reconcile, Not Divide