What Hath Religious Studies To Do With Interreligious Dialogue?

When I moved to Germany, I was invited to take part in a pioneering project to map interreligious dialogue (IRD) efforts across the country.

In the aftermath of the 10th World Assembly of Religions for Peace in Lindau in August 2019, a group of colleagues got together to pursue the idea of an interreligious cartography in Germany. The goal was to make a comprehensive survey of local, national, and international interreligious initiatives and actors in German municipalities to serve as a reference for future research.

Through our investigation, we gained a clearer picture of what IRD looks like in Germany and who is taking part. From Bonn to Berlin, Flensburg to Freiburg, one of the things that became evident was that many of the local initiatives involved, or were led by, religion scholars and academic theologians. Based on my own research and experience, this holds true in the U.S. and elsewhere, with scholars often actively involved in IRD efforts at the local, regional, national, and international levels.

As I reflected on this, I pondered a few questions: Are religious studies and IRD natural companions or should they be carefully delineated and divided? Should those who study religion lead the way when it comes to multi-religious responses to the world’s pressing issues? Or, as some argue, should IRD remain an object for critical study and not participation?

How to monitor, identify, and counter hate speech

“The words of a human being have tremendous power, to build and destroy, to give life and to take life. In Abrahamic religions, an essential part of the creation of the world was the word. It was words that created this world and it is words that will destroy this world,” said Chief Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, Chief Rabbi of Moscow and member of the European Muslim and Jewish Leadership Council (MJLC).

Worldwide, xenophobia, racism, and other forms of intolerance — including antisemitism, misogyny, and islamophobia — are prevalent in public discourse, the media, and political rhetoric.

The global growth of hate speech raises the spectre of how, over the past century, it was a precursor to atrocity crimes, including genocide, from Germany to Rwanda, Cambodia to Bosnia.

“Hate speech is virtually everywhere,” said Goldschmidt, “but we must not tolerate it anywhere.”

With this in mind, the International Dialogue Center (KAICIID) has been employing a range of initiatives to help religious communities and leaders counter hate speech, from producing a guide on how to monitor and analyse hate speech to hosting consultations with experts in the field.

“Religious actors and interreligious leaders,” said Faisal bin Muaammar, Secretary General of KAICIID, “have a role to play in countering hate speech.”

Recently, I learned from KAICIID experts in partnership with the European Council of Religious Leaders/ Religions for Peace- Europe (ECRL/RfP Europe) with the support of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) to develop a guide to IDENTIFYING, MONITORING, and COUNTERING HATE SPEECH.

We all have a role to play in responding to hate speech and it begins with understanding what it is, how it manifests online and in day-to-day life, and why it is resonating and replicating. 

"There's no issue more important": Chief Rabbi Rosen on Climate Change and Environmental Justice

When it comes to the twin issues of climate change and environmental justice, Chief Rabbi David Rosen is uncompromising.

“There’s no issue more important,” he said in a recent interview with KAICIID. “Of all the very significant things that need to be done in our world, what is their value if we are going to destroy it all? Our responsibility is a critical imperative for the survival of life on earth itself.”

A former Chief Rabbi of Ireland and senior rabbi of the largest Orthodox Jewish congregation in South Africa, Rosen is a prominent interreligious leader. As such, he is the American Jewish Committee’s International Director of Interreligious Affairs and a member of the KAICIID Board of Directors.

Chief Rabbi David Rosen speaking at the Religions for Peace 10th World Assembly in Lindau, Germany (PHOTO: Courtesy RfP)

Of all aspects of his work in interreligious dialogue and education, his greatest passion remains the care of the environment and the need to reform our lifestyles accordingly.

“As a religious practitioner, I believe that there is no issue today that is as compelling or imperative for religious people to be engaged with,” he said.

In addition to his work with KAICIID, Rosen has worked with Religions for Peace (RfP) and the Parliament of the World Religions on a variety of interreligious efforts aimed at combatting the calamitous effects of climate change. He frequently writes, speaks, and is actively engaged with multiple initiatives addressing the challenges posed by climate change.

Two of those initiatives are the Jerusalem-based Interfaith Centre for Sustainable Development (ICSD) and the Interfaith Rainforest Initiative — an international, multi-faith alliance that “works to bring moral urgency and faith-based leadership to global efforts to end tropical deforestation.”

Rosen's convictions arise out of a deep personal appreciation of the environment as a gift from God.

Drawing from a broad stream of spirituality, Ela Gandhi continues to serve humanity

There is a temptation when you meet Ela Gandhi to assume her soft, fluttering voice, attentive nature and reserved demeanor encapsulate her personality as a whole.

On that, said her friend and biographer Susan Easterbrooks, you would be wrong.

“Behind that sweet demeanor,” she said, “is the heart of a lion. It’s a gentle heart, it’s a respectful heart, but it’s also a no-holds-barred kind of heart.”  

Beyond being one of Mahatma Gandhi’s — or Ghandiji’s — granddaughters, Ela Gandhi has become a symbol of social justice in her own right, living a life of quiet — and not so quiet — resistance over the last 80 years. A new book by Easterbooks, “My Time with Ela Gandhi,” chronicles the lessons learned and stories told by Gandhi throughout their friendship.

Growing up in Phoenix, one of the oldest Indian settlements in South Africa, Gandhi later went on to serve as a social worker engaged in non-violent protests and activism, fighting on behalf of the oppressed. Along the way to helping South Africa transition to a post-Apartheid state by sitting on the Transitional Executive Committee in the South African government and as a member of South Africa’s Parliament (1994-2004), Gandhi faced house arrest for nine years and lost her son, who was killed in the struggle for justice.

Now retired, Gandhi remains committed to social justice and interreligious harmony. She founded and still chairs the Gandhi Development Trust, is a member of South Africa’s Religious Affairs Committee and works with international organizations, including Religions for Peace.

Devoted to the cause of peace, fighting injustice and crossing political and religious boundaries to do so, this is the story of Gandhi’s engaged spirituality over the long haul.

Azza Karam listens to the world’s religious women and thinks you should too

Azza Karam was just about to step up to the podium at the Inselhalle in Lindau, Germany to accept the position of Secretary General of Religions for Peace International (RfP) on Aug. 23, 2019.  

Shortly before her speech, she spoke off-stage with Sonia Guajajara, an indigenous representative from Brazil.

Karam was leaning in, listening carefully to what Gaujajara had to say about the environment and the need for RfP —  a multi-religious platform with the representation of diverse religious institutions and communities — to make a bold statement about climate change. As Gaujajara finished, Karam smiled, thanked her, and said, “when it comes to issues like climate change, what the world needs is more women like you.”

Perhaps it is telling that before one of the more momentous speeches of Karam’s career, she wasn’t pacing backstage or making final preparations for the presentation. Instead, she was taking time to hear, and be present with, one of the valued, female members of the organization she was about to accept the leadership of.

That, as Karam tells it, is one of the prime directives of her tenure as RfP Secretary General — to raise up women’s voices within and across religious traditions and see her fellow females not only “take their seat at the table,” but step out in front and lead the way to meaningful change on a range of issues confronting the world today.

To that end, Karam’s RfP — with the Foundation Peace Dialogue of the World Religions and Civil Society (Ring for Peace) and supported by the German Federal Foreign Office (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) — is convening the first assembly on “Women, Faith and Diplomacy: Keeping the Faith and Transforming Tomorrow.” 

Originally scheduled to take place in Lindau, the event is now being held online, November 10-13, 2020.  More than 600 participants from 90 countries are gathering virtually, and in person, to discuss the role of women in the world’s religions and their leadership in the realms of faith and diplomacy.

A peace and light ceremony held on Nov. 12 welcomed in-person participants. Photo provided by Ring for Peace.

Karam said it is an opportunity for representatives from the media, civil society, international development, academia and religious institutions to celebrate how far they’ve come in terms of women’s leadership on issues of peace and security, sustainable development and human rights.

The whole point of the assembly is to help attendees better “appreciate the breadth and the depth of contributions of women in the realms of faith and diplomacy across the world,” Karam said.

At the same time, it is also an opportunity to wrestle with how far they have to go.

Women’s leadership — and resistance to it —  in these realms is something that Karam is intimately familiar with. Over a decades’ long career in academia, diplomacy and interreligious dialogue, Karam has faced impediments to her fierce initiative from a variety of colleagues. Karam said she has frequently faced belligerence from people of faith who would not accept her leadership.

**Want to learn more about the assembly on “Women, Faith, and Diplomacy” in Lindau? Take a moment to read the write-up below…