The logo of this Pilgrim Praxis blog - the multi-access labyrinth leading to the common Centre - is a sign of the need and opportunity in the ever-shrinking global village we inhabit to learn to live respectfully and appreciatively with people of other faiths and no faith.

It has always been that way.   Even cave people knew they couldn't just meet their own needs!!  They had to trust, to communicate, and have each other's back.

My earliest years were spent in Holland where the lines of faith separation were stark.   Our family was part of the Re-reformed Church (created by a schism of 1834) and the idea of connecting with people - e.g. girlfriends - of the majority Dutch Reformed Church had to be carefully and critically considered.    In our province, some villages were "Catholic" and others were Protestant.   Catholic women in traditional dress wore a lace cape with a blue ribbon in it - to identify them as adherents of that faith tradition.   Women without that ribbon were assumed to be Calvinist Protestants.

Of course, we don't have to go to Holland to remember the tensions and feelings that characterized relationship between Orange folk and "papists".   The lines in the neighbourhoods were all to clear and the feelings often spilled over to abusive language and fisticuffs and worse.   

We like to think we are now living in a more enlightened world.   But 

antisemitism is still a powerfully insidious force.   Muslims in China - Uighurs - are  locked up for "re-education" and brutal mental, physical, and cultural torture to assimilate them into the Han majority.  And too many dominant groups still think that by force of arms their problem of religious prejudice can be resolved - at least to their satisfaction and to high costs for victims of their ignorance, hate, abuse, and ruthless quest for power.   These are obvious examples, but a little thinking reveals a lot less enlightenment throughout the world, but also the prized miracles of bridge-building between followers of diverse faiths.

Treat others as you would want to be treated - that's the paraphrased "golden rule" for most world religions.   In the Christian Gospels you'll find it in Matthew 7:12 and Luke 13:23-24.   In the Apocrypha usually in Roman Catholic editions of the Bible you'll find this version in Chapter 31:15 of the book of Ecclesiasticus:   "Judge your fellow guest's needs by your own, be thoughtful in every way (and think of what you yourself dislike)."   And in Tobit 4:15:  "Do to no one what you would not want done to you."  Christians still have a lot to learn from and about these succinct, pointed sayings.  

In the holy writings of other world faiths, you will discover variations with the same intent - as you care for yourself, so care for the other.  (See the Scarboro Missions'  inter-faith poster below.)

The Dalai Lama's wise words invite us to dig deeper into our own heritage of faith wisdom and knowledge.  Christians have an amazing range of same-faith differences to negotiate in our present world.   But the wisdom calls us to go beyond our current, often superficial differences, to the pay dirt of share truth, beauty, wisdom, and hope - and significant differences to marvel at  like the shared "golden rule.".   Example:   many feel Christianity is too institutionally driven and organizationally rigid and too patriarchal.  Agreed!   But go into our history and some of the edges of Christianity and you will find people exploring in great depth and in, like peaceful, justice-based encounter a spirituality that is rich and faithful to all the counts.    Example:   some preaching comes across as superficial and embedded in cultural prejudices.   Agreed!   Over its 2000 years history, seekers, like the Beguines of Europe, have found fellow travelers of the Way of Christ and created community - small and large - where mind and heart were married into a robust, expressed faith that changed limited worlds.

Humans are created to explore and to seek wisdom, truth, and the holy - in community.   The community is not meant to be limited to the like-minded, but open to the diversity which is at the heart of the created order.   Not always easy to negotiate.    It requires humble awareness that no person or group of persons has the corner on the whole truth.   Theists know that they cannot "comprehend" the divine.   It is their vocation to seek greater understanding of the Holy, but always recognizing that they can only "apprehend" the infinity that overflows the mystery of the transcendent and sacred.

That humble awareness is the door-opener for inter-faith relationships.   You can't have a conversation that is mutually enriching if either or both partners presumes to "know it all" because they have the words of the "infallible" scriptures or prophet or other authority. 

Knowledge of our own faith heritage means that we have something to share when we meet neighbours of other faiths.   The more we know the more we can share humbly and respectfully for mutual enrichment.   That could lead to a more peaceful world and there are enough marvelous  examples where that has indeed been the case.   Hallelujah!