Sunday morning the Chapter members met in the Chapter Hall to hear a discussion on Inter-Religious Dialogue with Alyssa Wahid and FX Hariawan Adji, the recently elected Vice General of the Order. Hariawan holds a doctorate in Inter-Religious Studies (2017) and has much experience and interest in this topic. Alyssa Wahid is the founder of the Gusdurian Network Indonesia, a nationwide network that promotes democracy, human rights, interfaith dialogue, and advocates for minority rights. It was established to emulate the work of her father, President Abdurrahman Wahid, the fourth president of Indonesia.
Much of the discussion encouraged people to get out of their own comfort zone and get to know people of other cultures and faiths. If you stay just within what your are familiar with and comfortable with, then there is little possibility of finding points of common ground with others.
Huub Welzen, prior provincial of the Dutch province, wrote a short summary back to his members which is quoted here: The moderator asked both participants how more tolerance between religions could be achieved. I found Alyssa Wahid's answer interesting. She talked about the purpose of the Muslim faith. Islam is not there for the benefit of Islam. Islam is there for the benefit of the entire universe … Fundamentalism and extremism naturally lead to intolerance. Within one's own faith, those who do not share the same views are considered lesser Christians or lesser Muslims. Intolerance towards other faiths is even greater. They must be destroyed. Religious leaders have a major task here to show that this kind of extremism is not part of the inclusive nature of most religions.
