Purpose of Inter-Religious Dialogue

PURPOSE OF INTER-RELIGIOUS DIALOGUE A major purpose of interfaith dialogue, or dialogue between members of different religious communities, is for dialogue partners to understand and learn from each other. What is the scope of interfaith dialogue? For example, should it focus on people from different faith backgrounds trying to understand each other’s religions? Or should it also include trying to understand each other’s economic, social, and political conditions and problems, which are often a major cause of inter-community conflict? In other words, should such dialogue be theological, sociological, or both? Social issues are common in nature. Discussion on social issues is our common worldly requirement. Here, the formula of the well-known thinker Jeremy Bentham is applicable: “The greatest good for the greatest number.” That is, many people sit together to discuss social issues of common concern, and whatever jointly emerges from the discussions could be adopted by all. However, the arena of religion is quite different. Religion is related to the issue of Truth. Every individual should seek to discover Truth by themselves, to find out what the Truth with a capital ‘T’ is. Without making this kind of finding, a person will live in confusion. We need, therefore, to differentiate between social issues