Cultural Trends and the Importance of Interreligious Dialogue

Summary of Dr. David Carlson’s article:
Cultural Trends and the Importance of Interreligious Dialogue
(summarized by Paula Fujiwara)

This is an era of great change. In the Principles of Restoration there is the principle of external change preceding internal change. For example, the more external Renaissance (the revival of Hellenism) preceded the more internal Reformation (revival of Hebraism). As True Father said in the 12th Peace Message: we must fulfill our responsibility to “make this era blossom and bear fruit in blessing and glory.”

It takes a “culture hero” to accomplish this. In Joseph Campbell’s classic work, THE HERO WITH A THOUSAND FACES, he analyzed myths from all the world’s cultures. A culture hero, such as Samson, Hercules, or Jason, is larger than life and lives out a story common and relevant to all humankind. All myths point to the restoration of the Kingdom of God (utopia, the ideal world).
Campbell wrote that “myths are openings through which the inexhaustible energies of the cosmos pour into human cultural manifestation.” These manifestations take the form not only of myths but legends, stories, philosophies, worldviews, religions, movies, and educational and legal systems, etc.
We need to encounter the changes around us and steer them in the proper manner in order to fulfill the Will of God and realize “the ultimate myth:” the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. It is our destiny. We need to become the culture heroes of this era.

Cultural trends are signs of greater providential impulses. For example, there are many movies and TV shows these days about spiritual phenomena. True Father predicted that such a trend of great popular interest in spiritual phenomena would happen now that the restoration of the relationship of the physical and spiritual world is being fulfilled.

An ideological trend that is going on these days has been labeled “the new atheism.” Several atheists have recently published best-selling books including Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and Michael Shermer. However, this has been followed by a new impulse for theism led by Antony Flew. The atheist authors have simply been bashing the weaknesses of religion and the perceived inadequacies of the intelligent design argument for God’s existence, but have yet to prove that there is no God. Antony Flew, on the other hand, has been an avowed atheist for years but has recently changed his mind by “following the evidence where it leads.” He has published a book entitled THERE IS A GOD which has greatly upset the atheist camp!

This phenomenon exhibits a shift from external to internal. Antony Flew has taken a “journey of reason” to arrive at the notion that there must be a God. But what about a strong theistic impulse based on faith? The Renaissance was based on reason (external) but the Reformation was based on faith (internal). Antony Flew has shown, philosophically, that the notion that there is a God is a reasonable and respectable notion. So, what is the next step of this theistic impulse? It is to show the nature or character of God and explain God’s Will which is to build the Kingdom of God on Earth based on true families. And how will this theistic impulse manifest itself in the faith realm? It will manifest as interreligious dialogue.

No religious faith today can claim to have “the truth”, not even Unificationists. There is much that we do not yet know. We are seeing a cultural transformation right before our eyes. There is a present, pressing, and cultural need for each religion to meet the others in genuine dialogue. It is providentially important! But religions don’t know how to dialogue! Christians say that they have Jesus and everyone needs to accept Jesus as the Lord. Those who have engaged in interreligious dialogue have been uncertain of goals and methods, etc. But given the religious conflicts around the world, interreligious dialogue must be seen as very important. A leading theologian of the 20th century, Ewert Cousins has said, “It’s the spiritual journey of our time.” Our time is an era of global consciousness.

Only religion has the sympathy, humility, energy and vision for world peace. Genuine dialogue is the practice of True Love. This is what Unificationists emphasize. As culture heroes, we need to practice True Love as we interact with people of other faiths. People of all faiths need to face and confront this era of change in a coordinated way. We need to lend our shared wisdom to stop conflicts. We need to work together to build a new world of peace, joy, freedom, and happiness. The cooperative unity of the religions would be like a symbolic realization of the three great blessings to “be fruitful, multiply, and have dominion over the earth” and therefore, the Kingdom of God on Earth.
By practising true love, we can succeed as the culture heroes of this era by guiding the theistic trend (impulse) of interreligious dialogue.

(see the Dialogue Decalogue for a true love approach to interreligious dialogue.)