Interfaith or Intercitizen Dialogue?

Mixed Multitudes (written by Daniel Septimus) is the house blog of MyJewishLearning.com.  It currently carries a series of posts on the issue of interfaith dialogue. You can read the posts in the order they were posted here and then here.  Rabbi Meir Soloveichik (the great nephew of Rav Soloveichik the esteemed Modern Orthodox theologian) makes his case here (subscription required though you can borrow the edition from the synagogue office) in Commentary magazine.  For those who want the condensed version, I will try to summarize:

Soloveichik argues that in the search for ecumenical understanding, Judaism too readily effaces its claim for ultimate truth relative to other traditions.  Septimus responds that a Jewish theology that does not recognize the truth in other traditions is not grounded in the reality of day to day existence. How can one be respectful to one's neighbors if one does not think that their faith has ultimate value?

I would sidestep both these positions and suggest that my respect for a fellow citizen is grounded in a liberal politics that may be informed by my particular Jewish milieu but ultimately is rooted in the shared compact that all citizen make in liberal democracies.  Put another way, I respect my neighbor not from any belief that his or her religious faith possesses truth, but through the insights of what is necessary to make a civil society function. I accord this respect to people of all faiths or those of none.

The advantage of such a position is that people who hold their faiths dearly do not need to inspect each other's traditions and give it a kind of hekhsher. We live together in mutual respect and tolerance because we want to and need to.  I would be greatly interested in your comments on this.

Comments

[Daniel Septimus]

First off, Rabbi Landsberg, thank you for reading Mixed Multitudes and contributing to this conversation.

But I'd like to clarify my view: Unfortunately, my position on interfaith (and interdenominational) relations derives from my encounter with the negative ramifications of triumphalist theologies.

That is, I've seen how the devaluation of other people's beliefs leads to the devaluation of them as people. Similarly, as I mentioned in my blog post, Yitz Greenberg's interfaith work arose out of his confrontation with the Holocaust and the ways in which Christian theology facilitated it.

My theology isn't so complicated. It's rooted in a desire to have people be nice to each other, respect each other, or at least not kill each other. I have such a problem with Soloveichik's approach because I think when we insist that we have a better truth, we eventually believe we are better people.

In times of crisis or stress, this can lead to scary things.