In another example of interfaith services, FaithHouse Manhattan in NYC, a multireligious church, is holding interfaith gatherings twice each month. It’s part of a movement called “twinning” in which two or more religious groups get together to worship. The idea is that there are enough similarities that they can focus on those and can understand that all paths lead to God.

This Washington Times article admits that some evangelicals from various religions are not quite accepting of such gatherings, though they are becoming more open to the idea of interfaith dialogue. Perhaps there needs to be a distinction between interfaith foundations/movements/discussions and interfaith churches. It seems likely that more people would agree that talking about peace among religions is important. It seems less likely that evangelicals from all faiths could say “Yes, our religions are all the same and all lead to the same place.”

The goal of interfaith dialogue, interfaith gatherings, and so forth should be to allow each person to freely worship and believe without persecution, discrimination, and other barriers. If (and only if) twinned services can allow this freedom of belief without causing each religion to lose its unique identity or asking religions to ignore central tenets, then perhaps this is another way to transcend hate and work toward understanding.

Would you agree?

Created by Religion Transcends, 2010

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