Christians, Compassion and Interfaith Meetings
Last week the Dalai Lama was in Seattle for a five day meeting focused on compassion. Here’s the description of the event from the website:
An unprecedented gathering to engage the hearts and minds of our community by highlighting the vision, science, and programs of early social, emotional, and cognitive learning.
Anchored by the deep wisdom of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, this community–focused event will celebrate and explore the relationships, programs and tools that nurture and empower children, families and communities to be compassionate members of society.
Each of the five days will provide parents, educators, business and community leaders with an opportunity to better understand the real benefits of compassion, and concrete steps on how to bring compassion into their lives.
I flew out to attend the final day, whose theme was ‘Youth and Spiritual Connection’. I was privileged to attend a private prayer breakfast with the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu. That was followed by a two part panel discussion with those two men and several spiritual leaders from a variety of religions/spiritual traditions.
The prayer breakfast amazed me. I thought it would be a very serious event. The last thing I expected to see was the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu greeting each other like best friends, then teasing each other and giggling together throughout the breakfast. They did share some serious thoughts also. I’ve written in detail about the prayer breakfast on Conversation at the Edge.
Two evangelical Christian leaders, Rob Bell and Doug Pagitt, were on the panels. I’ve noticed criticism of them online a) for attending at all b) since they did attend, for not ‘preaching the gospel’ to the satisfaction of those critics. The critics seem to have missed that this was an event about compassion. Why would Christians abstain from it unless they wanted to convey this message: “We’re not interested in compassion, unlike the rest of the world”?
On the other hand, the Dalai Lama was saying things like, all religions teach the same message: love, compassion and tolerance. If a Christian participates in an event where such things are said and doesn’t publically disagree with them at the event are they betraying their faith? I’ve written about the panel discussion on my site also (but I took better notes at the breakfast.)
The moderator at the breakfast said he was delighted that there were people present from a wide variety of spiritual traditions, including ‘unaffiliated’. I saw someone there I’d met at an Off The Map event who was the leader of an atheist student group at the University of Washington.
I’m curious:
- Christians, if an event like this was in your area would you be interested in going? Would you have reservations about attending an ‘interfaith’ gathering at which the topic is compassion?
- Atheists, would you go to an event like this, where spiritual leaders are discussing compassion? Would that interest you?
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10 Responses for "Christians, Compassion and Interfaith Meetings"
I’d go to this (atheist). I really like the Dalai Lama.
I do think it’s a shame if they only invited people of faith, and didn’t include any secular humanists. Were unbelievers included in the “unaffiliated” group? Anyone have more info on this? We who do not believe in gods or the supernatural are also interested in love, compassion, and tolerance.
I applaud the Christian participants who went in the spirit of camaraderie and did not try to use the opportunity to evangelize. That would have been rude and condescending.
There was a current? ex? leader of an atheist society at the University of Washington at the prayer breakfast - I know atheists were invited to that. But it would have been even better to have at least one on the panels as well - I don’t remember there being any. As you say that’s a shame because certainly, many people with no religious beliefs value love, compassion and tolerance.
At least I didn’t hear anything said against non religious people at the event. But I do agree, why not include them in the panel?
Yes indeed. That would rather have undermined any benefits of participating to demonstrate that Christians are compassionate, in my opinion.
By the way there are high quality videos of the event on the Seeds of Compassion site if you’re interested. (These have been useful to those who wanted to critically dissect what Rob or Doug said in order to decide whether it was ‘Christian’ enough ;-)
As described, I wouldn’t have gone. The first time I read the blog post I stopped reading at “His Holiness the Dalai Lama”. My patience for mumbo-jumbo is very limited. If I heard him say “all religions teach the same message: love, compassion and tolerance” I think I would have had to leave. That’s a ‘what color is the sky in his world ?’ statement.
I’d go. The star power of those two would be hard to pass up. My personal thoughts on their religious leanings wouldn’t influence that decision one iota. The world needs more genuine compassion. If my own dedication to this doesn’t inspire the people I meet, then I absolutely point them to someone else who might be more credible to them.
Anybody can come up with a clever angle on who’s “out” of their social circle. It takes brains, courage and compassion to see how people fit in.
P.S.
Don’t close up shop just yet, Bill. This is still a good place for good people to discuss important things.
I’d love to go to one of these events. I also think it was great that non-believers were invited as well.
I agree wholeheartedly with Heather that “it takes brains, courage and compassion to see how people fit in”.
If more religious groups can find common ground and hold each other accountable I think it will go a long way towards marginalizing the more extreme (and decidedly less compassionate) adherents of their faith.
Dude all I have to do is go back to my old fraternity and I’ll have my own interfaith reunion (we were very diverse but they only seem to talk about God when they were drunk. Meh, go figure.) But I digress. It would be interesting to go and see what different faiths say.
And I agree with writerdd about the “no evagenlizing” but I would have to say the rule would have to go all around not just the Christians. No agendas all around I say.
Ben are you saying you never attend events unless you expect to agree with everything said at them? And if you do go and then something is said you disagree with, you always walk out?
Heather wrote:
Heather, yes, that’s very much how I feel and why I went.
Skeptigator wrote:
That would be great. During the event Rabbi David Rosen (a panelist and also someone who did an email interview for me last year) said “If belief systems are used for violence they’re a betrayal of spirituality”.
Kristina wrote:
What people said was pretty similar to each other, on the whole. You can watch the webcast free if you want to see it for yourself.
That’s fair. I didn’t get the sense anyone was there to push their own belief system.
as an agnostic, I would definitely go to this. I like to see people coming together.
Would I be here if that were true?
No. I dialog with and listen to people with whom I disagree all the time. I’ve read Christian apologetics books (currently reading John Haught’s God and the New Atheism: A Critical Response, talk about politics with people I disagree with, all sorts of things. I went to the local Catholic college (Siena) when they had a panel discussion on Dawkins’ The God Delusion in my “Happy Atheist” T-shirt. But when the entire theme is “Youth and Spiritual Connection“, and the people invited are called their Holiness and such, then what the heck is there that I would find worth listening to? I diverge from their worldview at such a basic level that it would be pointless. I would rather spend the day doing something else.
How many of the supernaturalist Christians posting here would be interested in attending a conference on “Youth and Compatibilism” featuring neuroscientists and materialist philosophers? Say, Drs. Daniel Dennett, Owen Flanagan, and Fred Gage.
Anyone interested?
That’s not what I said. I said it was a ‘what color is the sky in your world’ kind of statement. Like if someone states that “all numbers are the correct answer to 2+2″ or “Australia was settled by Native American refugees who rowed the continent away from North America in 1650.” The idea that all religions teach love, compassion, and tolerance is on that level. I don’t know how you respond to anyone who says any of the three statements. My eyes just glaze over and I try and exit the conversation.
Ben wrote:
Good point
Thanks for elaborating on when you’d walk out.
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