unTapped Topic: Many Faiths One Truth?

Join us, this week at MOKA (7pm) in downtown Bellaire for a discussion on interreligous harmony, and compassion.

A few weeks ago, the Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso, wrote an op-ed piece for the New York Times (click here). In his opinion, religious people need to be ardent adherents to their faith, but must also seek to learn from other faiths. He says that all major faiths contain a "strong unifying thread" and that thread is compassion. The Dalai Lama pleads for people of faith to refocus on the religous mandates for compassion. He says "mutual understanding among these traditions is not merely the business of religious believers — it matters for the welfare of humanity as a whole."

A Boston University religion scholar, Dr. Steven Prothero responded to the Dalai Lama's op-ed in a piece that Dr. Prothero called "The Dalai Lama is Wrong" (link). Prothero writes,

Religious exclusivism is dangerous and naïve. But so too is pretend pluralism. The cause of religious harmony is not advanced in the least by the shibboleth that all religions are different paths up the same mountain.

Prothero contends that compassion is not at the root of all religions and he calls the notion of religious harmony based on compassion "youthful naiveté".

What do you think?

Join us, this week at MOKA (7pm) in downtown Bellaire for a discussion on interreligous harmony, and compassion.