{"id":11481,"date":"2026-05-13T12:00:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T11:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/?p=11481"},"modified":"2026-05-07T12:50:23","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T11:50:23","slug":"reflection-when-faith-meets-other-faiths","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/2026\/05\/13\/reflection-when-faith-meets-other-faiths\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflection. When Faith Meets Other Faiths"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the context of inter-religious dialogue and the proclamation of the Gospel, “dialogue is not a threat to proclamation”; rather, the two are closely linked. In her evangelisation work, the Church remains committed to both dialogue and proclamation. <\/em><\/p>\n

En route to India, Francis Xavier made a great effort to strike up a conversation with some Muslim religious leaders in Mozambique. They were honoured to interact with this impressive Westerner, but they did not allow themselves to be overly influenced.<\/p>\n

In Goa, he interacted with several Brahmin groups. He would enquire about their central teaching. From his own side, once in a gathering of 200 Brahmins, he explained the core Christian teaching, emphasizing the Ten Commandments. The crowd was deeply impressed. They readily admitted that Francis\u2019 God was the true God because His commandments were closely in conformity with sound reason.<\/p>\n

After all, God\u2019s laws are written in human hearts. One Brahmin asked to be made a \u2018secret\u2019 Christian. Francis refused. However, another accepted the Christian faith. In Japan, Francis was more successful in his conversation with religious leaders. Many became Christians and led others to Christianity. Conversion is not the goal of dialogue, nor does it exclude it.<\/p>\n

When Vatican II opened the doors to formal discussion of our theological experts with religious leaders or intellectuals of other religious, there was extraordinary enthusiasm for it in Asia. Missionary questions about human salvation that had no ready answers in a multi-religious context began to win attention. Missionary groups that were meeting with stiff resistance to their evangelization efforts found an outlet to give expression to their evangelical enthusiasm.<\/p>\n

Themes related to this type of dialogue filled many theological journals, especially as it broadened out to cover shared religious experiences and initiation into practices like concentration, meditation, yoga, zen, or other eastern practices. Literature on such matters flooded the market. The Western youth, growing diffident about their faith, moved eastwards to discover the hidden secrets of oriental spirituality.<\/p>\n

In the process, the so-called \u201cdialogue of life\u201d is about shared approach to neighbourhood problems, needs, opportunities came to be under-estimated.<\/p>\n

The reality is that the dialogue of life about handling together the joys and sorrows, problems and anxieties of each other remains. The compulsion to address these concerns together with people of other religious convictions, ideologies, loyalties, ethnicities, careers, party affiliations, interests pin us down to contextual search for solutions. Liberation of the oppressed and a call for human rights can become priorities.<\/p>\n

Meantime, with its novelty diminished, theological exchange has become less of a pressing concern. But its value remains in view of the evaluation of our approaches and strategies for the future.<\/p>\n

There was a document prepared by Cardinal Arinze in 1991 with Cardinal Tomko to clarify the relationship between \u201cDialogue and Proclamation\u201d which insists that \u201cdialogue is not a threat to proclamation\u201d but intimately linked with it. It sturdily asserts that \u201cthe Church\u2019s commitment to dialogue remains firm and irreversible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the day-to-day dialogue of life, a deeper understanding of each other\u2019s religious heritage calls for the assistance of prepared scholars. They help their community to grow in their appreciation of spiritual values prevalent in other traditions. Interchange of religious experiences in the areas of prayer and mysticism continues to remain an ongoing education. Nostra Aetate refers to \u201cMoral good found among non-Christians,\u201d especially amidst their social and cultural values.<\/p>\n

The Federation of Asian Bishops\u2019 Conferences recorded a statement of Bishop Mansap of Thailand who felt he was \u201cevangelised\u201d by his Buddhist neighbours. He was deeply enlightened by their commitment to justice, development, openness, and simplicity of life.<\/p>\n

The Gospel has something to offer to heal, ennoble, and binds what is good in different traditions. Christians too are beneficiaries in interacting with other religious communities, both to learn something new from them and to be reminded of a Christian teaching that they had long forgotten.<\/p>\n

Kindly recall how Abraham sought a blessing from Melchizedek, a gentile (Hebrew, 7:1-17). Take note, it was during their exile in Babylon, when the Israelites were able to mix with people of other religious traditions, that they gained a broader vision of God\u2019s plan for them\u2026to be a light for all nations (Isaiah, 2:3: 52:10). Wisdom literature in the Bible makes it very clear that God is active among all nations and individuals.<\/p>\n

Jesus considered a centurion\u2019s faith superior to that of his fellow Jewish believers (Matthew, 8:5-13). He healed a Syro-Phoenician woman because of her humble faith (Mark, 7:24-30). During his conversation with the Samaritan woman he referred to the future when people would \u201cworship the Father in spirit and truth\u201d (John, 4:23). Are many in Asia worshipping an \u2018unknown God\u2019 already like how the Athenians were doing? (Acts, 17:22-34).<\/p>\n

The Biblical teaching is very clear, \u201cGod has no favourites,\u201d says Peter (Acts, 10:34-35; see also Galatians, 2:6, Romans, 2:11). It is the wise men from the East that stirred the Jewish scholars to search the Scriptures about the birth of the Messiah (Matthew, 2:6). May the wisdom of diverse communities lead them ultimately to Jesus. (Photo: Pope Leo XIV meets with ecumenical and interreligious representatives. Vatican News) – (Thomas Menamparampil\/Archbishop Emeritus Of Guwahati, India) <\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the context of inter-religious dialogue and the proclamation of the Gospel, “dialogue is not a threat to proclamation”; rather, the two are closely linked. In her evangelisation work, the Church remains committed to both dialogue and proclamation. En route to India, Francis Xavier made a great effort to strike up a conversation with some […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11482,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11481"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11481\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}