All in Good Faith

Author(s): Jean Potter, Marcus Braybrooke
Publisher: World Congress of Faiths

Page 27

All in Good Faith
Buddhism is a non-theistic religion, Theravadin Buddhists could not take part in prayers or worship directed to God. Whilst she respected other religions, she could not take part in shared worship. Mr Mathoor Krishnamurti of Bharatya Vidya Bhavan said that as a Hindu he had no problem in joining in the prayers of any religious community because the Hindu religion was a universal religion. Maulana Shahid Raza of the Imams and Mosques Council (UK) said that some Muslims were discouraged from joining in interfaith activities by the possibility of being asked to take part in interfaith worship (47).
A Worldwide Concern
The practice of interreligious prayer is spreading and the world church is now beginning to discuss the subject. In 1993, the World Council of Churches' Office on Interreligious Relations set up with the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, a study project on interreligious prayer and worship (48).
Both offices conducted a survey to ascertain how widespread is the practice of interreligious prayer and to discover the theological questions being discussed as a result of this practice. Although the response was uneven, the WCC had fifty replies, from eleven countries - Austria, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, the Netherlands, South Africa, Sweden, Taiwan, the UK and the USA. The survey showed the great variety of occasions on which people joined with members of other faiths to pray. In Taiwan, Christians and Buddhists 'sang and prayed' at human rights meetings. In the USA, Jews, Christians and Muslims stood together in worship against the death penalty. In Brazil, members of different faiths have prayed together for those who suffer from Aids. Different forms of service were described. In Germany, a distinction was made between 'interreligious prayer', where the event is planned as a unity and 'multi-religious' prayer, where representatives of different religions say their own prayers, while the others are listening (49).
The Pontifical Commission's enquiries only received a limited response. Of 189 dioceses in the USA, 12 replied. The patterns of interreligious prayer these answers showed were very varied, although some form of interreligious prayer was common on Thanksgiving Day and on national holidays. Replies from India suggested interreligious prayer was quite common, especially in response to a crisis, on feast days and at schools. Answers from Canada suggested considerable caution.
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