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The Need for an Interfaith Academy

 

All religious traditions are threatened by various aspects of modernity--from the moral challenges of technology to the spiritual threat of globalization, the questioning of traditional morality and the perceived lack of meaning in people's lives. Each religious tradition needs to reflect upon what it means to be religious in and relevant to the contemporary world.

However, religions must do more than individually face the issues posed by contemporary society. The global village is forcing religious traditions to exist side by side, creating new challenges and possibilities. The key challenge, now more pressing than ever, is greater mutual understanding. The possibilities include new and previously unimaginable collaborations, including use of a common framework in which to jointly reflect upon the issues that affect all religious traditions. Joint religious reflection can provide religions with a power beyond the individual tradition.

Joining forces in religious reflection can lead to a positive change in the way the public perceives religion generally. A fresh reflection, carried out jointly by a wide spectrum of religious traditions, can help religion regain a significance that it has lost in many quarters, nourish the religious traditions themselves, enhance the continuing relevance of the traditions to contemporary life and lead to greater respect and harmony among believers and leaders of all faiths.