Religious Interreligiously Organizational Goals

Question: Discuss about the Religious Interreligiously for Organizational Goals. Answer: Introduction: The concept of interfaith dialog is a very emerging and interesting one. It refers to a cooperative and highly positive approach towards integrating the basic concepts of different religions, through the interaction of people belonging to a variety of religious backgrounds. However, it should be demarcated from the concept of Syncretism that intends to develop mutual respect and acceptance of other religions, as interfaith dialog essentially means a creative process of synthesizing new beliefs and ideals of different religions (Lando et al., 2015). According to Dr. Hans Kung, interfaith dialog is highly important to ensure peace in the world and to enable the people of diverse religions accept the greater and universal Divine truth, and the same is possible only through international interfaith initiatives (Phan, 2015). The interfaith dialog has succeeded to emerge as a highly important concept, especially in the era of globalization, whereby people are now more eager to explore what lies beyond the narrow confines of their own religion, so that they can enrich their awareness of the Divine World. Hence, this is the reason why interfaith dialog is only possible when each participant believes in the inherent goodness and possible integrity of all the religions, and none of them tends to proselytizeany other participant in the process (Hoffman Thelen, 2014). Thus, interfaith dialog enables the participants to understand the areas of similarities, consensus and divergence through the continued discussion, and helps to comprehend the religious philosophy in a better way. Apart from ensuring peace, it enlightens humankind. As far as the interfaith dialog is concerned, there are four possible approaches that can be used by the participants. The first and foremost approach is the Exclusivist approach, and this approach upholds the undeniable importance of having faith in Christianity. The Exclusivist approach does not usually consider the supremacy or even relevance of any other religion, and exhibits an explicit conviction in Christianity. A variety of religious texts, such as John 14:6 are being cited usually, for endorsing this approach (Morgan, 2016). The members of other religious community may not accept this approach, as it relies solely on the importance of attaining salvation through Christ, and does not acknowledge the importance of any other religion. Just like the Exclusivist approach, the Inclusivist approach also upholds the reigning importance of Christ. According to this approach, the entire world, with a variety of people belonging to different religious backgrounds, get reconciled only with the aid of Christ. It although does not directly uphold the importance of Christianity for salvation in life, this approach relies on the idea that irrespective of whether an individual believes in Christ or not, Christ is the reason of happiness experienced by each individual in life. He is the source of life, and he enlightens anyone, even if he does not acknowledge the existence of Him. The third approach is however much wider and inclusive, and is referred to as the Pluralistic approach, that claims that there is a variety of paths to reach God. Though Christ is one of the ways to receive divine Grace, he is not the only way. The Pluralist approach claims that it is important to integrate each religious faith with that of the other, as it can successfully help in creating the common global good (Acar, 2013). This approach is comparatively more popular as it acknowledges the fact that no religion speaks with finality about God, and in order to spiritually enrich our knowledge we should refer to the different religious views. The fourth approach, the Transformation Approach claims that considering other religious views is equally important for helping humans with any religious affiliation undergo real spiritual transformation in life (Ftzergald, 2016). Each religion has a different ideology and a specifically distinguished definition of the Almighty, the Supernatural or the spiritual experiences. However, in a global world, as the lines of demarcation between religions is getting gradually blurred, people are getting more drawn towards the act of synthesizing and harmonizing their religious views for the manifestation of the Divine Reality, the ultimate truth of life. The ultimate aim of the Interfaith Dialog is not merely to promote harmony and unity in a culturally diverse world, but to enlighten each man about the Divine Truth. The central idea here is that no religion is complete by its own, and one can get a comprehensive religious world view only after considering the multiple religious theories, different religious thoughts, ideas and beliefs about the same God, the Creator and the source of life in the world. He might be called Christ or Allah, but the God remains one and many, and a comprehensive concept can only be derive d through intensive interpersonal relationships among different religious groups via mutual discussion. Reference List: Acar, E. (2013). Effects of interfaith dialog activities: The role of a Turkish Student Association at an East Coast US University.Educational Research and Reviews,8(14), 1144. Fitzgerald, M. L. (2016). Vatican II and Interfaith Dialogue. InInterfaith Dialogue(pp. 3-15). Palgrave Macmillan US. Hoffman, L. and Thelen, M. (2014). Interfaith Dialog. InEncyclopedia of Psychology and Religion(pp. 880-881). Springer US. Lando, A. L., Muthuri, L., Odira, P. R. (2015). The importance of interfaith dialog in the workplace for achieving organizational goals: a Kenyan case study.Language and Intercultural Communication,15(1), 62-75. Morgan, F. (2016). Jewish Perspectives on Interfaith Dialogue After Nostra Aetate. InInterfaith Dialogue(pp. 31-44). Palgrave Macmillan US. Phan, P. C. (2015).Being religious interreligiously: Asian perspectives on interfaith dialogue. Orbis books.