There is a great movement I have been reading about recently. It is called "Daughters of Abraham" and it is a group of Christian, Jewish and Muslim women who meet on a regular basis to discuss the similarities and differences in their faiths. I believe it was started in the Northeast following 9/11. There are chapters popping up everywhere, though, including here in North Texas. Here is an excerpt from their website detaling the "rules":
Principles for Interreligious Dialogue
1. Enter into dialogue so that you can learn and grow; not to change the other.
2. Everyone must be honest and sincere, even if that means revealing discomforts with your own tradition or that of the other. Everyone must assume that everyone else is being equally honest and sincere.
3. Everyone must be permitted to define their own religious experience and identity, and this must be respected by others.
4. Don't feel that you are the spokesperson for your entire faith tradition or that you ought somehow to know everything there is to know about it. Admit any confusion or uncertainty you might have if a puzzling question arises.
5. Don't assume in advance where points of agreement or disagreement will exist. 6. Everyone should be willing to be self-critical.
7. All should strive to experience the other's faith "from within" and be prepared to view themselves differently as a result of an "outside" perspective.
8. Trust is a must.
Isn't this great?
Maybe, just maybe, this can be the small pebble that leads to a snowball of tolerance and coexisting on this world that God gave us all.
