Fatal embrace: secularizing faith via interreligious dialogue

This essay applies a biblical hermeneutic of faith to explore some of the key premises, presuppositions, and philosophical assumptions contained in the concept of interreligious dialogue. The etymological and historical roots of the ‘dialogue’ concept are discussed and some of the essential features of the core types of dialogue are presented. The concept of ‘church’ as a metaphorical heuristic device is then applied to the notion of ‘interreligious dialogue’ to describe the activities of the community of groups and individuals related to its support and advancement. The essay finds that its adherents and participants tend strongly to assume their activities not to be informed or infused by other institutional interests in contemporary culture and society such as political or economic. A brief historical review of Vatican I and II demonstrates that the church of interreligious dialogue (CIRD) actually began long ago, after which the Catholic theological wheels were set in motion to embrace secular culture unreservedly as a laudable goal without much consideration for the potential religious and socio-cultural downsides. The essay concludes that interreligious dialogue operates more to advance rather than to retard the process of removing Christian values from culture in modern society, contrary to biblical mandates. As far as unintentional effects, then, it turns out that secularizing faith means sacrificing faith in strict biblical terms.