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THE QUESTION
Can There Be Common Ground?
If some religious people believe they have a monopoly on truth, then are conversation and common ground possible? If so, what would be the difficulties and benefits of such a conversation?
Posted by Hal Straus on November 10, 2006 8:34 AM
FROM THE PANEL
Questions To Answer Before A Conversation
Reasoned Argument
Grapes By Any Other Name
Seeking Truth Requires Internal Courage
Diversity Brings Resilience
Telling the Truth About Truth
Faith Is Necessary
We Are Already In The Conversation
Engaging Without Rancor
No Time for Arrogance
Concern for Neighbor Can Trump Belief Monopoly
Finding Common Ground on Higher Ground
Not With Fanatics
Real Conversation is Truth-Centered Conversation
No One Can Have the Last Word on God
Faith Won't Heal a Divided World
Dumb Dialogue
Democratic Etiquette and the Religious Right
Religious Convictions Need Not Impede Search for Common Ground on Societal Issues
God's Greatness Defeats All Efforts to Monopolize Truth
No Vegetables, Please
The Christian Faith...Offers Hope Founded in Objective Truth
No Monopoly On Truth
Conversation not Conversion
Godtalk and Godwalk
Monopoly & Genocide
Questions To Answer Before A ConversationWhat we need to ask is what pressures generated each tradition's claims to monopoly, against whom such claims were made, and what is at stake in making them.
Posted by Elaine Pagels, on November 20, 2006 12:00 PM
Reasoned ArgumentReasoned argument is essential for the preservation and advancement of both civility and civilization
Posted by William J. Byron, on November 17, 2006 3:40 PM
Grapes By Any Other NameIt’s crucial to begin with understanding each other's cultural perspectives.
Posted by Salman Ahmad, on November 17, 2006 1:00 PM
Seeking Truth Requires Internal CourageSerious conversation always provides the opportunity to enter into another’s world
Posted by Mark S. Sisk, on November 16, 2006 5:30 PM
Diversity Brings ResilienceIn human society...diverse viewpoints and approaches to the sacred can broaden our perspectives and give us more tools for grappling with the uncertain and challenging future
Posted by Starhawk, on November 16, 2006 4:35 PM
Telling the Truth About TruthLet the conversation begin . . . and let us show up as who we are, beliefs and all....The reality is that too many "interfaith" discussions are held among those who have only a tenuous hold upon the faiths they claim to represent.
Posted by R. Albert Mohler Jr., on November 15, 2006 5:45 PM
Faith Is NecessaryThe Supreme Transcendent One longs for us to live amicably together in harmony with all other creatures...No religious faith I know proclaims that violence is right, that it is right to steal, to be cruel, to oppress another
Posted by Desmond Tutu, on November 15, 2006 5:30 PM
We Are Already In The ConversationWe are already on common ground, and I don’t believe we’re alone. The monopoly has been broken
Posted by William Tully, on November 15, 2006 4:30 PM
Engaging Without RancorJesus talked to anyone He thought would listen, sometimes adding “Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.”
Posted by Michael Otterson, on November 15, 2006 3:45 PM
No Time for ArroganceThere are very good, Christian reasons to believe that a serious, broad-ranging conversation about matters of common concern can produce better understanding
Posted by Richard Mouw, on November 15, 2006 3:40 PM
Concern for Neighbor Can Trump Belief Monopoly Those who feel they have a monopoly on truth can be an obstacle to...understanding needed in today's world. However, this need not be so.
Posted by John Esposito, on November 15, 2006 3:30 PM
Finding Common Ground on Higher GroundReligion must be disciplined by democracy...meaning that we don’t claim that our religious authority must be everyone’s or dictate their moral or political fate
Posted by Jim Wallis, on November 15, 2006 3:10 PM
Not With FanaticsThe fanatic does not believe in dialogue; I do. How then is conversation between us possible?...
Posted by Elie Wiesel, on November 15, 2006 3:00 PM
Real Conversation is Truth-Centered ConversationTolerance doesn’t mean ignoring differences, as if differences didn’t matter. It means engaging differences, in the calm confidence that everything that is genuinely true ultimately directs us toward the God who is the world’s source and the world’s destination.
Posted by George Weigel, on November 15, 2006 2:55 PM
No One Can Have the Last Word on GodThe reality we call God, Brahman, Nirvana or the sacred is transcendent. That is, it goes beyond our mundane experience. If we imprison ourselves in dogmatic ideas, we are closing our minds to the divine.
Posted by Karen Armstrong, on November 14, 2006 9:30 PM
Faith Won't Heal a Divided WorldIf there is common ground to be found through interfaith dialogue, it will only be found by people who are willing to keep their eyes averted from the chasm that divides their faith from all others.
Posted by Sam Harris, on November 14, 2006 9:00 PM
Dumb DialogueBind faith is impervious to evidence and cannot be swayed by argument
Posted by Susan Jacoby, on November 14, 2006 8:00 PM
Democratic Etiquette and the Religious RightI really didn’t expect the Religious Right to climb out of the Republican Party’s cozy bed. But I did think they might stick out a foot and maybe wiggle a toe or two.
Posted by Randall Balmer, on November 14, 2006 7:30 PM
Religious Convictions Need Not Impede Search for Common Ground on Societal IssuesGod alone has a “monopoly” on truth. He is Truth—which means that truth is defined in relation to the God revealed in Scripture
Posted by Richard Land, on November 14, 2006 7:00 PM
God's Greatness Defeats All Efforts to Monopolize TruthIf we believe that God is so great that our best thought of God is like a child's crayon picture of the sky ...then we'll know that however true, beautiful, and good our knowledge of God may be, it is nothing close to a monopoly
Posted by Brian D. McLaren, on November 14, 2006 6:30 PM
No Vegetables, PleaseSo what if the Bible, or the Quran, says something? Since not everybody accepts that these texts are infallible, citing them as if they were is just rude
Posted by Daniel C. Dennett, on November 14, 2006 6:00 PM
The Christian Faith...Offers Hope Founded in Objective TruthTruth has taken a beating in our relativistic, pluralistic and politically correct age. Rather than give offense by claiming to know the truth, we prefer the age-old admonition of hostesses for polite conversation: discuss neither religion, nor politics at the...
Posted by Cal Thomas, on November 14, 2006 5:45 PM
No Monopoly On TruthThe peril of religious conviction is arrogance and intolerance
Posted by Gardner Calvin Taylor, on November 14, 2006 4:30 PM
Conversation not ConversionCandor vital for establishing common ground
Posted by Bishop Jane Holmes Dixon, on November 14, 2006 4:00 PM
Godtalk and GodwalkAbstract principles unconnected to ethics historicallly have gotten a lot of people killed.
Posted by Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite, on November 14, 2006 10:53 AM
Monopoly & GenocideWhen monopoly-on-truth is taken literally it always contains within itself a lethal germ of murder
Posted by John Dominic Crossan, on November 13, 2006 8:30 PM
FEATURED COMMENTS
V. R. Sonti: There is no middle ground between Science and Faith. Science depends upon evidence that is available to all.
Faith is the faith that there ...
Mary E. Kelley: I think that God's Presence is indivisible, and that we can all learn to respect each person's way to worship. When we try to become faithfu...
David: There *is* common ground, and it will be pragmatism that guides us to it. As an example, some believe that abortion is murder, and some beli...
