I will never be like you! But we are able to cooperate, even if I am a Christian and you are a Muslim
The world can be divided by many causes, or united through the shared humanity approach.
It is to us what we choose and where we lead our world. I believe in focusing on what we have in common.
It is important to remember I will never look like you. And I will never like exactly the same food, music, movies. But it doesn’t mean we cannot be friends, work together and live in the same place.
Till this day, I have visited around 50 countries and lately was travelling through some countries in the MENA region. I have been working on projects around the world and many times cooperated with people very different from me. What was important was the aim of our actions. Whether it was to coordinate events in Canada, youth meetings in Belgium or the Netherlands, build a Clinic in Uganda, start supporting children’s education in Rwanda, or some other projects I was a part of.
Our common goal was what united us.
It always depends on us, what angle we choose if we condemn diversity because it scares us, or use it as a tool and manage talents hidden within it.
I have joined the UNAOC Fellowship program this fall and had a chance to visit some mosques, interreligious centers and institutions in Spain, Morocco, Egypt and Qatar. It has been an enriching experience and looking back to our very first day in Spain, we had a very inspiring meeting with an NGO named Foro Abraham, which focuses on interreligious and intercultural dialogue mainly on the national, but also on the international, level. Since the Foro members and leaders are from all the three Abrahamic religions–Judaism, Christianity and Islam-they are very genuine sources of information and a shining example of united community where differences are not perceived as a burden, but as a splendid diversity, which creates a safe garden for all the believers.
And as we cannot say all the Christians from the very conservative, orthodox Catholics to liberal Protestant churches are all the same, we have to understand different school of thoughts in Islam, as well as cultural backgrounds. Touching the sacred texts, it is so easy to misunderstand them and thus dangerous to share false interpretations. Only if we read them in the historical and cultural contexts, consult with experts, and search for the meaning with an open mind and heart, we are able to discover what the text is truly trying to tell its readers. Thus, it is very important to share the true meanings of those texts and not just leave this space to very active radical groups.
Coming from Slovakia, I felt a lot of fear from many people, fearing something they don’t know. What was it? Many say migration, terrorism, Islam. Many are confused by these terms and interchange them. Because they don’t really know what is hidden behind these terms.
It reminds me a situation, when I was younger and started to be a big promoter of ecumenical dialogue and intrafaith cooperation. I was organizing pilgrimages, meetings, prayers. And the reaction was not always positive. Often because people feared to lose their particular way of belief.
But ecumenism is not about loosing my faith, but accepting others to have theirs and being able to cooperate with them.
I have shared my thoughts about ecumenism at the event in New York this week. I believe it is about mutual understanding and focusing on what we have in common rather than searching for differences. I have found this for the first time in the community Taizé in France. It is truly a place of genuine peace and reconciliation, that is why I keep going there each and every year at least for a week.
Now I see the need of not only intrafaith but also interfaith dialogue more than ever. With extremists sharing false information, turning the truth upside down and spreading hate speech and violent actions all over my region, it is necessary to share the true face of religion and clearly detach violent actions from any religion.
Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Myanmar, Israel and Palestine… Yes, they are very often connected to politics and organized groups. They use it only to attract more attention, speak to believers and gain their support. I saw that very recently even in Slovakia, where ultra-nationalist People’s Party Our Slovakia around Marian Kotleba was not even ashamed to use a fake bishop in order to prove they are strong Catholics. They all use religion as a marketing tool. But religion is not a tool, but a way of life. It is here to help individuals connect with others, study and grow in order to be better people.
Religion is about love, not hate. And if somebody is teaching and spreading violent ideas, it is a twisted way of religion and should be put apart.
I wish there would be more organizations like Foro Abraham in Spain and more communities like community Taizé. I believe while being open to others, we are not loosing our faith, not mixing it all together, but welcoming and accepting others as they are. And as we will be never all the same, it doesn’t mean we are not able to cooperate. We share more than we think, so let’s focus on what we have in common.
