Does Interfaith Dialogue Lead To Syncretism?
Last year I attended a women’s bible study for a short period of time. We met on Monday evenings for a couple of hours. We prayed together, studied scripture together and socialized. We are new in the community and I was hoping to make some new friends. It didn’t turn out that way.
One evening, a few weeks into the study, I shared with a few of the women that I had been participating in an interfaith dialogue and that I was really enjoying it. They had never heard of such a thing and wanted to know more. They were uncomfortable with the idea that an interfaith dialogue is not focused on trying to convert others to Christianity. They could not grasp that we, as Christians, could learn anything of value from someone outside of our faith. They thought it was probably a sin to be willing to take the position that we might discover that we are wrong about something we believe. In the end they believed that there was some sort of evil involved in the idea of interfaith dialogues and that there was probably a hidden agenda of syncretism. The result for me was that I became someone they, at least, were worried about or, at worst, suspicious about. Needless to say, I didn’t keep attending the Bible study for long after that.
My understanding and experience has been that interfaith dialogue does not require one to give up or hide one’s own beliefs. It is true that it is not a dialogue that is focused on validating one’s own religious conviction but at the same time there is a need for one to be rooted in their own tradition in order to have a meaningful dialogue. I believe that the dialogue not only offers us the opportunity to learn about the faith of others but to also discover dimensions of our own faith that may have been unknown or forgotten by us. In addition, I believe that interfaith dialogue opens up the possibility of people of different faiths working together for the common good.
Still, there are many who believe that it is not worth the risk of our faith becoming polluted with what they would consider false ideas and beliefs and that the most probable outcome is a blended belief system.
What do you think? Is interfaith dialogue a slippery slope that leads to syncretism that will just end up dilluting and harming Christianity? Or is interfaith dialogue a worthy endeavor that will heal divides, make the world a better place and lead to Christians becoming better followers of Christ because of our encounter with others?
This month a group of us have decided to synchroblog on syncretism. The synchrobloggers so far:
How To Cook Up A Personal Jesus by Matt Stone
How to be a Syncretist by Ellen Haroutunian
Our Uncomfortable God by Susan Barnes
Synching on Syncing by Phil Wyman
The Man In The Moss by Steve Hayes
July 15, 2009 at 12:41 pm
Great conversation! It seems to be a paradox – we fear that having a dialogue with those who believe differently will reduce or dilute our beliefs somehow, yet to enter into the world of the other, as Christ did, seems to be the surest way of growing even more solidly Christian, because then we are acting just as He did.
July 16, 2009 at 9:20 am
Ellen – Great point. The religious people back then were also upset about Jesus connecting with people outside of the faith.
July 15, 2009 at 10:20 pm
It seems to me that some (like those in the Bible Study Group) are not thoroughly convinced about what they believe, which is why they worry an interfaith dialogue would lead them (or others) astray.
Thanks for your thoughts.
July 16, 2009 at 9:23 am
Susan – Perhaps you are right. I also think that some of our Christian teaching over the years has induced a lot of fear about anyone or anything outside of our faith – there has been all this division encouraged and resulted in this mindset that there is something to fear, something dangerous about connecting with anything that isn’t Christian.
July 15, 2009 at 11:11 pm
I would say, of course engagement with other religions can lead to syncretism, but so can engagement with politics, culture, fashion, shopping, movies and all sorts of other stuff. So avoiding interreligious dialogue does not guarantee safety. On the contrary, given that we are intructed to be in the world but not of the world, if we avoid engagement with other religions that may well be a sign that syncretism is already at work in us. A Christianity that fears engagement is diluted already.
I agree that dialogue not only offers us the opportunity to learn about the faith of others but also to discover dimensions of our own faith that may have been unknown or forgotten by us. That has certainly been my own experience. But I would add however that evangelism is not incompatable with interreligious dialogue. Part of dialogue includes explaining your own position. We should always be open to inviting dialogue partners to consider Christianity more seriously. But lest that be misunderstood, I think dialogue is valuable even when conversion seems remote. God may be glorified in many ways.
July 16, 2009 at 9:28 am
Matt – You said “A Christianity that fears engagement is diluted already.”
I couldn’t agree more. So many talk about keeping Christianity pure but it seems all they really want to do is maintain the status quo.
I agree that I don’t think interreligious dialogue incompatible with evangelism – I was just pointing out that it isn’t the focus or the point – which is probably a better situation for conversion to occur.
July 16, 2009 at 6:50 am
[...] Does interfaith dialogue lead to syncretism? by Liz Dyer [...]
July 16, 2009 at 8:11 am
I would say that genuinely open interfaith dialogue can lead to seeing truth in others’ faiths, but not necessarily to syncretism unless you are that way inclined to start with.
One’s faith can’t be very strong if one fears to be exposed to challenges to it.
July 16, 2009 at 9:30 am
Yewtree – Thanks for stopping by. The initial impression is that their faith is not strong but as I mentioned to Ellen I think a lot of teaching has encouraged Christians to be afraid of anything outside of the faith. Although it is taught that fear is not of God we seen to hear a lot of sermons about stuff we should be afraid of.
July 16, 2009 at 9:00 am
Driving a car could lead to getting into an accident. Crossing the street could lead to getting hit by a reckless driver. Going to the supermarket during flu season could lead to catching the flu yourself. And yet, I suspect that those who are so afraid of interfaith dialogue and the road to syncretism do all of those things I just mentioned. That’s because they understand that while there are risks, there are ways to mitigate those risks. So the real question is, why don’t they understand that it’s possible to mitigate the risks of falling into syncretism while engaging in interfaith dialogue?
I agree with Matt that it’s still possible to do evangelism while engaging in interfaith dialogue. In fact, I think that it’s the most effective way of doing so. However, I also think that it requires an approach to evangelism that is less results-driven (“save that soul for Jesus!”) and more process-driven (“let’s figure out the appropriate message, communicate it, and leave an open invitation”). This is especially true when dealing with those who are not likely to convert. A gentle invitation is less likely to result in slammed doors than a full frontal assault. (And yes, having suffered through a few interesting attempts by various Christians to convert me, I do think that phrasing is appropriate.
)
July 16, 2009 at 9:35 am
Jarred – you make a great point about taking risks. When I think of something being risky I always think about how risky God is with the grace and mercy and agape love that he hands out so freely.
I also appreciate you pointing out that the best evangelism approach is one that is not results-driven. A lot of people have told me that they are very turned off by Christians who seem to have an agenda when it comes to befriending them. I think we need to have opportunities to prove to the world that we love people even when they are not interested in converting to our belief system and I believe that interfaith dialogue is one of those opportunities.
July 16, 2009 at 9:41 am
Interfaith dialogue is fun, if everyone plays nicely. It can stretch us and change us — so if we are afraid of these things, we should avoid it. Finally, I feel our minds contain many selves and dialogue can be used to keep those selves in healthy relationships. It may seem like a strange theory of mind, but it allows me (an atheist) to acknowledge the theist in me when I dialogue with you. Peace.
July 16, 2009 at 10:28 am
Sabio – Thanks for sharing – I know what you mean about us having other selves in us and how
connecting with others that can relate to another one of our selves can be enlightening and healing.
July 16, 2009 at 3:48 pm
dialogue is so important
July 30, 2009 at 3:45 pm
As an atheist, I’d say about 90% or more of my faith-based conversations are with someone with different beliefs than myself. My uncle, a Christian minister, once said to me, “No one is a Christian – we are just striving to be Christian.”
I agree with Susan on this one. I imagine those that cannot have dialogue without it being an exercise in conversion, likely don’t have much faith in themselves.
I would hope that people of all faiths and belief structures would be able to communicate and learn from one another.