November 13, 1999

CLEVELAND—Church members were challenged to think about how to be true to their faith while reaching out to work on humanity's common problems with their neighbors of other faiths. The call came at the 50th anniversary celebration of the National Council of Churches meeting here.

NCC leaders, meeting in General Assembly, the Council's highest legislative body, on Wednesday approved a major policy document, "Interfaith Relations and the Churches," aimed at involving church members in the building of a better society. Earlier in the week, much the same message was offered during a 50th anniversary forum on "Living Faithfully in America: A Multifaith Conversation."

Christians are urged to intensify understanding of their own faith and religious roots when they undertake inter-religious dialogue. The paper suggests, "One must come to the table ready to exchange concepts and doctrines as we seek common ground for action."

The document recommends that the NCC continue relations with national religious bodies, undertake new conversations with religious communities such as the Hindu and Sikh, continue inter-religious activities to promote global peace and justice, and increase activities with other religious groups on refugee resettlement, overseas programs, prevention of family violence and other social concerns.

Perhaps the NCC should follow the example of other faiths and link its interfaith work with work in social justice," suggested Dr. Jay Rock, Co-Director of the NCC Interfaith Relations Commission. Rock sees a flicker of "bright lights" in the growing interest among churches in inter-religious work.

Progress has been made in interfaith activities on the local level. The Rev. Jessie Glick, Colchester, Conn., noted that many local Council of Churches activities now take place under interfaith umbrellas. "Our annual hunger walk and food drive and other activities are now jointly sponsored," he noted.

The NCC statement uses strong language to denounce "all forms of religious and racial bias." It says, "As Churches we must uproot all that might contribute to such prejudice in our teaching, life and ministries."

The next century is projected to bring a new cadre of religiously committed people; these people must be engaged in inter-religious work, participants agreed, adding that funding for inter-religious work has not been proportionate to the needs and opportunities. Too many national organizations and local congregations cannot provide sufficient time and expertise for interfaith work because they are under pressure to keep up with institutional needs such as education, worship, theological education and fund-raising, they said. Some major foundations are beginning to look at providing grants for inter-religious work, it was reported.

The Rev. Bert Breiner, co-director of the NCC Interfaith Commission, addressed the importance of teaching one's own faith. "One must come to the table ready to exchange," said the Rev. Breiner. "We must learn to live faithfully in a multi-faith society and to live in relationship to God, humanity and the Bible."

Professor Peter Junger, representing the Cleveland Shin Buddhist community, said," We must learn to improve in loving our neighbors and ourselves."

Closing thoughts were provided by Imam Fawaz Damra of the Islamic Center of Cleveland. He said that despite personal links to other lands and people "we are all God-conscious people before we are American. We must not only act together but influence American foreign policy not to have a secular approach but to ground policy in the teachings of all faiths."