Including religious communities beyond the Abrahamic trinity in interfaith dialogue has been the official position of the Catholic Church since Vatican II. Nostra Aetate, the famous Vatican II document that formally opened the Church’s doors to dialogue, has a special sections devoted to the Church’s unique relationships with Muslims and Jews. But it also addresses itself to Hindus, Buddhists and members of other faiths with the following line: "The Catholic Church rejects nothing that is true and holy in these religions. She regards with sincere reverence those ways of conduct and of life, those precepts and teachings which, though differing in many aspects from the ones she holds and sets forth, nonetheless often reflect a ray of that Truth which enlightens all men."

My own introduction to interfaith work came through a lay Catholic monk, Brother Wayne Teasdale. In my book, Acts of Faith, I describe Brother Wayne as a cross between Zorba the Greek, St Francis of Assisi and the mad scientist from the Back to the Future movies. Brother Wayne had been a student of the Benedictine monk Bede Griffiths, an Englishman who went to India to seek (as he called it) “the other half of my soul”, and led an ashram there called Shantivanam which was organized on both Catholic and Hindu principles.

Brother Wayne was also a friend of the Dalai Lama, and carried on a close Catholic-Buddhist dialogue with him for many years.

For Brother Wayne, interfaith work was not about theological frameworks, but finding the shared social justice values and spiritual resources in all traditions.

Since 9/11, there has been a dramatic growth in interfaith programs in communities and on campuses around America. Too many of them - under the guise of “Abrahamic Dialogue” - limit themselves to Jews, Christians and Muslims.

I think that’s wrong.

First of all, there are over 900 million Hindus in the world, and over 300 million Buddhists. In America, there are somewhere between two and six million Buddhists, and probably around 1.5 million Hindus. They deserve to be included as well.

Second, while the Abrahamic framework sounds nice and neat, the truth is that there are significant differences between religious communities under that tent. You can only talk about Abraham being the Patriarch for so long. At some point, the discussion turns to Hagar – was she a concubine (as Jews say), or a legitimate wife (as Muslims say). Was it Isaac on the rock (as Jews say) or Ishmael (as Muslims say)? The theological similarities turn out to be thinner than originally thought.

Interfaith cooperation needs to include people from all of the major world religions, based on a framework of shared values.

As Muslims advocate to expand the idea of America beyond being a Judeo-Christian country, we have a responsibility to advance a framework which includes not just our own faith community, but other groups as well. It is a violation of the Islamic ethos to demand to be let into the house, and then slam the door on your Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, Sikh and Bahai brothers and sisters as you enter.

And, as in so many other areas, the Vatican has shown the way.