Respect necessary for interfaith dialogue

The night skyline lights up as Omaha remembers 9/11. The dialogue encouraged communication between faiths in the shadow of the tragedy and helped students express their opinions on religoius viewpoints.

By RYAN BORCHERS
Reporter

For some, Sept. 11 is a date that symbolizes ignorance and misunderstanding among different religions and cultures. However, for a gathering of people at Creighton on Monday, it became a time of acceptance and peace.

The “Interfaith Dialogue in the Shadow of 9/11,” organized to encourage dialogue between Christians, Jews and Muslims, was held in the Skutt Student Center Ballroom on Monday. The event was sponsored by the Rabbi Myer and Dorothy Kripke Center for the Study of Religion & Society, the Anti-Defamation League and the Islamic Speakers Bureau of Nebraska.

“It’s certainly fitting that we mark the fifth anniversary of Sept. 11 by considering the role of religions in such events,” said Philip A. Cunningham, executive director of the Center for Christian-Jewish Learning and adjunct professor of theology at Boston College.

Event coordinators tried to diversify the seating as much as possible so there could be Jews, Muslims and Christians at every table.

A speaker would address the crowd from a specific religious viewpoint, then tables would discuss the topic.

Cunningham spoke first from a Roman Catholic perspective. He said that the Abrahamic religions all believe they are worshipping the same God and need to work together to carry out God’s work.

“Us three Abrahamic religions coming together is going to cause us to have to internally repress some of our theological understandings,” he said. “I believe that if we are faithful to our respective religious traditions, we have no other choice than to dialogue, since we all believe that each of us is in the image of our creator.”

Rabbi Gary M. Bretton-Granatoor, director of the education division at the Anti-Defamation League, spoke from a Jewish perspective, stressing the need for more than tolerance between religions.

“Tolerance is a dirty word,” Bretton-Granatoor said. “I don’t want anybody to tolerate me; I want people to respect me.”

He also said that religious diversity is an intended aspect of the universe God created.

“Even if we disagree, we cannot think the other is on a delusional path to a false truth,” Bretton-Granatoor said. “We need to make room for the possibility that truth and God may be bigger than all of us.”

Sulayman Nyang, professor of African studies at Howard University and author of several books, including “Islam, Christianity, and the African Identity” and “Islam in America,” spoke about the theological, sociological and historical basis for religious dialogue.

“So long as we are constrained by these old concepts of super secessionism, we are not going to move forward,” Nyang said.

Nyang also talked about the possibilities for dialogue in America.

“When we talk about dialogue, we must recognize the fact that … the separation of church and state has made it possible for Catholics, Jews, Muslims and others to enjoy the widening of the circle of inclusion.”

The last speaker was the Rev. Dirk Ficca, executive director of the Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions. He said inter-religious dialogue needs to promote understanding, embrace differences, affirm our identities, emphasize experiences and relationships as changing agents, call for commitment and foster trust.

“Everything we need to be humane in our world needs to be created in trust between people,” Ficca said.