World Council of Churches sees honesty as basis for interfaith encounters

They were speaking at a conference on inter-faith relations in Geneva this week, initiated by the Muslim World League and also attended by Jewish leaders.

Current general secretary the Rev Dr Samuel Kobia said that a fruitful understanding between people of faiths depended on honesty and being able to recognise and hold “in creative tensions” areas of convergence as well as genuine differences.

"Because we are different, we each have something unique to contribute, and every contribution counts. At the same time, dialogue partners seek to discover and appreciate the common values held by all,” he said.

Dr Kobia went on to stress that dialogue should not be restricted to discussions in conferences and councils, but was rather “a way of living out our faith in relation to one another”.

“In loving and serving the God we know, we find our common calling to affirm human dignity, uphold human rights, preserve the environment and bring warfare to an end,” he said.

Speaking at a conference panel, general secretary-elect the Rev Dr Olav Fykse Tveit shed light on the situation in his native Norway, where immigration has led to the formation of a significant Muslim minority within a traditionally Christian society.

He said that Christians and Muslims there had spoken up together for freedom of speech to be exercised in a way that did not cause offence to one another and that both had condemned the misuse of the religions’ teachings to legitimise violence.

He said it was time for honest dialogue between faiths.

"We are one humanity, expressed in different civilisations, sharing the same earth,” he said. "It is time for dialogue, honest dialogue, about our attitudes to our neighbour, about our common responsibility toward the earth and toward the coming generations."