Agree to Differ

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Agree to differ in matters of ultimate concern:

religious diversity and interreligious dialogue

Faisal Bin Abdulrahman Bin Muaammar, the King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz

International Centre for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue

he International Decade for the Rapprochement

of Cultures (2013-2022) states that “international

security and social inclusion cannot be attained

sustainably without a commitment to such principles

as compassion, conviviality, hospitality, solidarity and

brotherhood which are the cornerstones of human coex-

istence inherent in all faiths and secular ideologies.” These

values are indeed imbedded in all cultures and religions,

even though they are not always practiced consistently. To

discover these values across worldviews so as to practice

them more universally, we need dialogue.

Dialogue, whether intercultural, inter- or intrareligious or

intercivilizational, is a form of verbal interaction between

two or more persons of different identities that emphasizes

self-expression and reciprocal listening without passing

judgement. Dialogue requires an intellectual and compassion-

ate spirit of openness to mutual learning. One’s understanding

of a given issue can be significantly transformed through

dialogue. It creates new relationships where there were few

or none before. Because dialogue fosters greater trust, it

leads to new, creative possibilities for sustainable collabora-

tion. Indeed, dialogue is to collaboration what debate is to

competition. Unlike debate, dialogue can lead to cooperation

on both individual and institutional levels. While dialogue is

not historically new, its increasingly intensive practice in the

past half a century, especially its practice in intercultural and

interreligious forums, has led to significant intergroup trans-

formations in both theological perceptions and interreligious

collaboration for justice and peace.

This year marks the fiftieth anniversary of the

Encyclical

Nostra Aetate,

a Roman Catholic document that has substan-

tially changed the nature of relations between the largest

Christian denomination and other Christian churches, as well

as with other religions. This change in the official theology of

the Roman Catholic church was influenced by three concur-

rent social transformations, the first two of which are the fruit

of intense dialogue. The first is the ecumenical dialogue led by

Dialogue fosters mutual understanding and helps build peace

Dialogue practitioners in a Nairobi KAICIID social media workshop to support

their goal of expanding the active community engaged in peace outreach and

rejecting extremist violence

Image: KAICIID

gree

iffer