The Pope and the pitfalls and potential of interfaith dialogue



By Ron Kronish


There is no question that one of the Pope's main messages during his visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories this past week was the urgent need for more and better interfaith dialogue to build peaceful relations between the peoples of the Middle East. Unfortunately, this message was only partly heeded at last Thursday's Interfaith Gathering.The Jewish speaker, Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yisrael Lau, tried to demonstrate that he understood the symbolic significance of the moment, offering a reflection on peace. Not only did he warmly welcome the Pope, with whom he seems to have established a personal rapport, but he also referred to the Muslim speaker, Sheikh Taisir Tamimi, as "my colleague."

He began his speech with a beautiful quote from the prophet Micah expressing the essence of religious pluralism: "Let all peoples walk in the name of their God and we will walk in the name of our God."

Then he tried to emphasize the values that we share - or that we should share - as followers of the major monotheistic faiths: friendship, understanding, speaking and listening to one another, and a yearning for peace.

But at the end of his speech, he made one comment that was politically incorrect (at least for this occasion) and that upset his audience. As he turned to Pope John Paul II and thanked him for his visit to Israel - which means that he recognizes the Jewish state - the rabbi also said that the visit to Jerusalem meant that the Pope recognizes the city as the unified capital of the state of Israel. This was a bad case of putting words the Pope did not utter into his mouth. And it injected an unnecessary, unhelpful political message into the gathering.

It would certainly have been much better to let the Pope's actions speak for themselves. Unfortunately, this political reference caused some Palestinians in the hall to yell out, "You know that this is not the case!" "This is not the position of the Vatican!"

It wouldn't have been so bad if this incident had been the only one of the day. But when the Muslim cleric began to speak, things went from bad to much worse. Just before the beginning of the event, word came to us that the sheikh was not going to give a very friendly speech. This turned out to be an understatement. It was obvious from the first moment of Sheikh Tamimi's speech that he did not come to enter any kind of meaningful dialogue. Instead, he came to deliver a religious-political speech meant to fan the flames of extremism.

Since the sheikh spoke in Arabic without translation, I was only able to glean the contents of his speech from others. But I could see and hear for myself the anger and venom expressed all too clearly in his loud, screeching voice and his somber facial expressions.

One person sitting next to me commented, "This is exactly what the Vatican didn't want." It wasn't only the Vatican leaders who were horrified by what they saw and heard. The Jewish delegates to the meeting, including myself, were sorely distressed by this Muslim speaker's total failure to catch the potential for the beginnings of reconciliation which this interfaith event could have symbolized. His speech was not the least bit dialogical or conciliatory. Instead, it was an inappropriate, extremist, verbally violent harangue.

The Pope, who spoke third, totally ignored the Muslim speaker's ranting and raving and stuck to his prepared text, which emphasized the need for more communication in what he called "the new era of interreligious dialogue."

In stark contrast to the Muslim speaker, he said that "We must find in each other's religious traditions the sources to ensure the triumph of mutual respect." Moreover, he urged that religion not become an excuse for violence. Instead, he said, religion and peace should go together.

The Pope reiterated his well-known position on the need for interreligious dialogue: "The Catholic Church wishes to pursue a genuine dialogue with members of the Jewish faith and members of Islam. We listen respectfully to one another and we should cooperate in everything that favors mutual understanding and peace."

In comparison to the previous speech, the Pope's pronouncements sounded like a pious wish list. He and everyone else in the audience that day were presented with a bitter lesson on the gap between the real and the ideal in this part of the world. The Vatican did not realize its desire for this interfaith dialogue to be a new beginning symbolizing the potential of interfaith dialogue to further the cause of peace.

What does this mean? Should we give up? Put off the interreligious dialogue between Judaism, Islam and Christianity until some future time?

My answer is a resounding "No!" On the contrary, we need to persevere despite the difficulties and obstacles. We should heed the Pope's clarion call for interreligious dialogue as a way to advance peace among peoples. But we can no longer be naive after last Thursday's event, when we were made painfully aware of the pitfalls and politicization of the dialogue.

Nevertheless, we must continue to look for partners in the dialogue - not only among religious leaders but also among religious people.

In fact, we might find more success in the grassroots than among some of the leaders who are as yet unable to speak out for peace and reconciliation in the ways that will become more and more necessary in the future. As people who share a faith and a commitment to a better future for our children, we have no choice but to renew our commitment to the urgent and long-range task of religious reconciliation.

Dr. Ronald Kronish is the director of the Interreligious Coordinating Council in Israel (I.C.C.I.

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