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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.) All contents copyright©2000 by CNS