Browsing by Author "Mwenda, Bonaventura"

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Interfaith Dialogue and Unity in a Pluralistic Context
    (Tangaza University College, 2006-12) Mwenda, Bonaventura
    Facounters hem een people or different religions are part of the sock)- religious context in the world today. a world that is characterized by an increasing globalization and religious pluralism. The people of Mogondoutchl i (Niger) also experience this reality. Their milieu is culturally and religiously mixed with people from different ethnic groups (1 lausa. Fulani, Tuareg). nationalities (Beninese, Togolese, Nigerians). and religions (African ancestral cult, Islam and Christianity). It is to this milieu that the Sock iv of the Missionaries of Africa appointed me to do two years (2001-2003) of pastoral experience. I stayed in a Christian community that lives the apostolate of neighbourliness with Muslims. The experience that I acquired gave me a deep desire to promote interfaith dialogue among people of different religions, especially in the field of Christian Muslim relations. 'Hie experience I had in Dogondoutchi left me with some unanswered questions with regard to the sociological and theological foundations of religious encounter. Should we consider religious encounters to be opportunities, obstacles, or challenges in our desire to bring peace among different religions? Most of the time, we experience some tensions between openness to others and the emphasis on one's own identity. Can we reach a level where we can say that both of these two desires are beneficial as long as the right balance is maintained between them? 13asic to any progress in the mission of interfaith dialogue is the common awareness that all of us are created by the One Supreme Being and that continuous encounters are inevitable in any pluralistic context Riese encounters may be planned or unplanned, friendly or antagonistic. However, if we all strive for a deliberate and genuine interfaith encounter, we may manage to create a just and peaceful society. As John Paul II affirms: Society cannot bring citizens the happiness that they expect from it unless society itself is built upon dialogue. Dialogue in turn is built upon trust, and presupposes not only justice but also mercy L.] Justice by itself is not enough: The equality brought by justice is limited to the realms of objective and extrinsic goods, while love and mercy bring it about that people meet one another in that value which is man himself, with the dignity that is proper to him. The search for universal human values such as peace, justice, trust and love, urges us to commit ourselves to promote interfaith dialogue and unity in pluralistic societies, such as that of Dogondoutchi. Despite the difficulties we meet in dealing with religious pluralism. God still invite us to strive for unity and harmony among different religious believers.