Understanding Religious Pluralism

PERSPECTIVES FROM RELIGIOUS STUDIES AND THEOLOGY 
GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY
Religious diversity and pluralism, though a constant feature of human history, is being increased in our time, especially by migration, globalization, and geopolitical events. It has emerged as one of the key issues for the promotion of world peace and religious harmony. In 2005, the Theology Department at Georgetown University established a doctoral program in religious and theological studies with a focus on religious pluralism. To provide scholars in religion and theology as well as our Graduate Program in Theology opportunities to explore further the issues of religious pluralism, a conference will be held at Georgetown University, Washington, DC, on May 23-25, 2012.
Four keynote speakers will explore religious pluralism and its impact on religious studies and theology: Thomas Tweed (University of Texas at Austin) on religious pluralism and religious studies; Paula Fredriksen (Boston University) on religious pluralism in Judaism and Early Christianity; Thomas Michel, SJ (Woodstock Theological Center, Georgetown University) on religious pluralism in Islam; and S. Mark Heim (Andover Newton Theological School) on religious pluralism and theology. There will also be a graduate student pre-conference held on Wednesday, May 23 and concurrent panel sessions on Thursday, May 24.
We welcome students, professors, and members of the community to attend the conference. Registration is free. Please fill out the Conference Registration Form, and return it by email to GeorgetownReligiousPluralism@gmail.com.
Panel Assignments:   panel assignments & schedule


Sponsored by
The Ignacio Ellacuria Chair for Catholic Social Thought
Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs
Georgetown Department of Theology
Jesuit Advisory Board for Interreligious Dialogue and Mission, U.S. Jesuit Conference
Georgetown College
Georgetown Graduate School of Arts & Sciences
Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding
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One comment

  • Another modus operandi is to gain the confidence of other religions by having a ‘dialogue’ with them. This is nothing more than a ruse to disarm the reaction of the society against Christianisation.”
    J. Goonetilleke October 25, 2010 Vijayvaani

    On June 11, 1963, Thich Quang Duc, a Buddhist monk from the Linh-Mu Pagoda in Hue, Vietnam, burned himself to death at a busy intersection in downtown Saigon, Vietnam. Eye witness accounts state that Thich Quang Duc and at least two fellow monks arrived at the intersection by car, Thich Quang Duc got out of the car, assumed the traditional lotus position and the accompanying monks helped him pour gasoline over himself. He ignited the gasoline by lighting a match and burned to death in a matter of minutes.
    He did this as the Buddhist in a Buddhist country were prevented to fly a Buddhist flag yet days before flew the Vatican’s flag. The country was ruled by hard core catholics. The leader Deim was a hard core catholic, blessed by the vatican.He had originally been “planted” into the presidency by Cardinal Spellman and Pope Pius XII. He transformed the presidency into a virtual Catholic dictatorship, ruthlessly crushing his religious and political opponents. Buddhist monks committed suicide by fire, burning themselves alive in protest against his religious persecutions. His discriminatory persecution of non-Catholics, particularly Buddhists, caused the disruption of the government and mass desertions in the army. In this terrorization he was aided by his two Catholic brothers, the Chief of the Secret Police and the Archbishop of Hue.

    All the vietnamese buddhist wanted was :- Lift its ban on flying the traditional Buddhist flag; Grant Buddhism the same rights as Catholicism; Stop detaining Buddhists; Give Buddhist monks and nuns the right to practice their religion; and Pay fair compensations to the victim’s families and punish those responsible for their deaths.

    When these were coming out to the world,Eventually Diem was removed but when he spoke of spilling the Beans, he was killed, and 3 weeks later when JFK wanted to end the war, he was killed. The whole picture was then shifted to communism v/s west>

    Japan:- In 1614 all Catholic foreign priests were ordered to be deported once more. Why? Total intolerance of any other faith by the catholics once the Vatican had had a political and strategical penetration into a country screened thru dialogues and show of godly work! All buddhist temples and foundations were destroyed by the catholics.

    S.Korea –2010:–‘In a crowded preaching in Busan, Korean Christians had prayed, according to the article “Persecution of Buddhists” of Wikipedia, “Lord, let the Buddhist temples in this country crumble down!”, and they did not wait for the hand of God but they had carried out: “Over the course of the last decade a fairly large number of Buddhist temples in South Korea have been destroyed or damaged by fire by misguided Christian fundamentalists. More recently Buddhist statues have been identified as idols, and attacked and decapitated in the name of Jesus “.Over the last decade, a large number of Buddhist temples in Korea had been destroyed or damaged by fanatically devout Christians. More recently, the Buddha statues, regarded as the devil, were attacked and beheaded in the name of Jesus.
    February 22, 2011
    Vietnamese Link http://www.giaodiemonline.info/noidung_detail.php?newsid=5424

    Written in Vietnamese by Minh Thạnh

    Translated by Nguyęn Tánh

    2011 Lunar New Year
    …………………………………………………….
    Recently the Pope has appointed Dias’s and ordered Archbishop to over see that People turn towards God..this is well worded…it reads as turn away from their Gods and turn towards Jesus only.’The lamb wins’ is well recorded where in act like the taliban denouncing all other faiths but act like a lamb whilst doing so. Hindus have been irked by these in North East India, Orrisa, even Punjab and now even the regions of J nK.

    In the mid 80’s the vatican was really worried about increasing no of people and continents being converted to Islam. To counter this ‘Islamophobia had to be created.After the fall of communism the missoneries need another evil to get into a country, and to show they are doing Gods work
    As a strategy to counter hindu’s irk, they purposely converted 2 people in Kashmir knowing very well that this would flare up. Once it flared up and the muslims got excited in an already troubled environment, the parishers set up the next step. To garner hindu support against Muslim ire taking advantage and FUELING the Hindu Muslim Rift and also the Kashmir–India–Pakistan sentiments. If and once the Hindus and others would have given support or voiced against muslim backlash, then this would serve as an argument if Hindu/ Buddshist,Punjabi,PARSI showed their ire against the same missoneries who are intolerant towards others and scheme such strategies.

    Sri Lanka..Lets look at what one of the known writeres have to say of it. J Goonetilleke October 25, 2010 Vijayvaani
    ”Another modus operandi is to gain the confidence of other religions by having a ‘dialogue’ with them. This is nothing more than a ruse to disarm the reaction of the society against Christianisation.”

    Jomo Kenyatta, the late Kenyan leader, who said: “When the white man came he had the bible we had the land. Then he said ‘let us close our eyes and pray’. When we opened our eyes we had the bible he had the land”

    BUT THEN….IF ONE LOOKS AT THE ZOROASTRIAN HISTORY and how they got backstabed by the missoneries once Rome accepted them, it shows that interfaith dialogues were always used by the missoneries to first get a foothold and test the waters. The Byzantine -Zoroastrian war lasted over 700 years and they have termed the sasanians as barbaric, Kartir, Aderbad Marespand as ‘Blackest of Black and anti god as they thwarted the missoneries to christianise Persia.

    “All these places and provinces, together with their troops and officers they took in one year (year 450). They destroyed the places, and carried away the men and women, together with their property and possessions, treasures and riches, into captivity. They pulled down and laid waste their dwellings, and burned the houses of idolatry, – the houses for the worship of fire. They removed the horrors of false worship, and taking the utensils away from the fire-temples, they placed them in the holy churches, where they were consecrated by the priests to be orna- ments to the altar of the Lord. Instead of idolatry which had been performed in all the heathenish places, they now set up the cross of Christ the Redeemer; they purified all the holy altars, established holy and life giving principles, and appointed priests and curates and all in the land gave themselves up to steadfast hope.”–Vartaan Magmonian,,Arch St of Armenia.
    From – ELISAEUS THE BISHOP IN ARMENIA–pg (pp. 34-35) :

    Ironically the Byzantines and the Islamists who wanted to extinguish the zoroastrian flame are at war 2000 years hence for their thirst to convert the world. Small pockets of Zoroastrians are in danger of siding with the wolf in sheep’s clothes.

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