Newspaper Page Text
Thursday, October 26, 2000
The Southern Cross, Page 9
Young people’s take on world religions
By Theresa Sanders
Catholic News Service
T
X oday’s young adults have
grown up in a world where the fur
thest reaches of the earth are just a
click away on the Internet. Countries
and cultures that used to seem impos
sibly strange now appear in our living
rooms on cable television, and e-mail
makes correspondence among friends
around the globe easy as well as invit
ing.
In this climate, young people have
become accustomed to the fact that
There is a downside to this
general acceptance of dif
ferences in faith.... It can lead
to a kind of bland homo
genization.”
not everyone sees the world as they do.
They are used to variety in music and
clothing, food and political opinion.
They are, for the most part, sensitive
to the need to be open to others’ ideas
and beliefs.
All of this, it seems to me, is to the
good. As Vatican Council II declared
in its “Declaration on the Relationship
of the Church to Non-Christian Reli
gions,” the Catholic Church “looks
with sincere respect upon those ways
of conduct and of life, those rules and
teachings which, though differing in
many particulars from what she holds
and sets forth, nevertheless often re
flect a ray of that truth which enlight
ens all men.”
Thus, when Generation Y (roughly,
those born between 1979 and 1994)
displays an openness to all of the
world’s varying religious beliefs, it is
living out the church’s conviction
that, as St. Paul says, “God is not far
from each one of us.”
However, there is a downside to
this general acceptance of differences
in faith. Oddly, instead of making
young people more interested in the
incredible diversity among the world’s
religions, it can lead to a kind of bland
homogenization. Often I will hear stu
dents say things such as, “It doesn’t
matter what you believe as long as
CNS photo from Cleo Photography
you believe something,” or “Well, all
the religions basically say the same
thing.”
While I am grateful for my stu
dents’ hesitance to condemn anyone’s
faith tradition (far too much blood has
been shed because of religious intoler
ance), statements like these make me
cringe. They also make me sad. Let
me explain:
Religions truly do differ in beliefs
and rituals, philosophies and hopes,
ethical systems and worldviews.
These differences are gifts to us. They
are, as Vatican II taught, rays of
truth. Ignoring them makes life
smaller and less beautiful.
What I find, however, is that when
young adults are encouraged to study
the world’s great religions, they be
come eager and curious. Many of
them have never had the chance to
think seriously about their own be
liefs, much less someone else’s. When
they study how other people think and
worship, they learn to appreciate
more fully their own religious com
mitments and traditions.
Given the opportunity, the stu
dents discover that real dialogue calls
for accurate explanations and in
formed questions, and so they must
learn to articulate clearly just what it
is that they do believe and why.
Today’s young adults live in a
world where religious diversity cannot
be ignored. The temptation for them is
to tame that diversity with simplistic
generalizations. The challenge is to
By Father David K. O’Rourke, OP
Catholic News Service
T
X oday there is a lot of talk about
religious dialogue. Well, mention the
word “dialogue” to some of my rela
tives, and what you will get is “the
look,” the one they reserve for ques
tions such as, “How would you like to
go to a performance of Richard
Wagner’s opera ‘Parsifal’ — in Ger
man?”
Dialogue, to some people, conjures
up images of people talking and talk
ing about important things that, to
the rest of us, might seem a little
abstract. But in my experience genu
ine dialogue isn’t about talking. It’s
about listening.
Let me give a simple example of
what I considered a real dialogue. It
occurred in the basement of a parish
church between a young man and an
older woman. She also supplied the
peanut-butter cookies that fueled
their conversation.
That night there was a meeting to
discuss some possible changes to the
church’s interior. The young man,
well schooled in the latest liturgical
ideas and not as well schooled about
the parish or its history, was pushing
for the new plan. The old-timer, a
great woman I will call Mary, inter
rupted him long enough to feed him
some cookies. He thanked her, then
asked what she thought of the new
plan.
“Well,” she said, “it’s all so different
from what we were used to. Back then
we had such a wonderful community.
This place was our home.”
That was when the dialogue began.
He stopped a moment, then asked
what it was like back then. She began
to tell how her mother, dead many
years, made the first altar cloths, how
her dad helped buy the property and
organize the building program. And
on she went.
Clearly, the young man then forgot
about his rehearsed talk. He was re
ally listening — and obviously enjoy
ing it.
Mary, as sharp as she was kind,
suspected that this young man, so
interested in his church, would prob
lna Nutshell
Jewish-Christian,Buddhist-Christian,Muslim-Christian
dialogues: Giant steps have been taken in such dialogues in
our era.
Can there be peace among nations without peace among
religions — or peace among religions without dialogue
between religions?
Basic to dialogue is a willingness to hear what others say of
themselves. Also basic is knowledge of and respect for one’s
own faith.
understand it not only with a gener
ous heart but also with an inquisitive
mind.
(Sanders is an assistant professor
of theology at Georgetown Univer
sity.)
FAITH IN THE MARKETPLACE
What results when religions
and cultural groups are
neighbors but don’t know or
understand each other?
“The result can be a false
stereotyping of one group by the
other, and if there are historical
tensions between the two
groups, this makes it harder for
one group to enter into conver
sation with the other.” — Kevin
Cook, Fall River, Mass.
“What happens often is fear
and misunderstanding, which
can create false ideas about one
another and therefore strained
relationships.” — Father
William Flegge, Orem, Utah
“I believe the fires of hatred
and racism are given fodder
when we fail to follow God’s
command to love one another.”
— Arthur Howard, Atlanta, Ga.
“I think that unawareness
results, and discord, and
misunderstanding.” — Gwen
Geis, Gillette, Wyo.
An upcoming edition asks: When is it
most difficult to accept God’s will?
How can it be done then? If you would
like to respond for possible
publication, please write: Faith Alive!
3211 Fourth St. N.E.,
Washington, D.C. 20017-
1100.
ably be interested in its past. In any
event, she was willing to give him a
lot of her time. And he was willing to
take her seriously.
The last time I looked, the two of
them were laughing and really enjoy
ing their conversation. I’d witnessed a
wonderful example of what we mean
by dialogue: two committed people,
from different generations and differ
ent worlds, talking at length with
each other.
But they were doing much more
than talking. They were listening to
things that were important to them.
With listening there is dialogue.
Without it there isn’t.
(Dominican Father O’Rourke is a
senior fellow at Santa Fe Institute,
Berkeley, Calif.)
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