Major Triangle religious leaders hold dialogue at Campbell Divinity School

     Campbell University Divinity School students heard seven leaders of major world religions share many common concerns for their faiths as they face the 21st century in the first Divinity School interfaith dialogue held on November 8. Those concerns include stewardship of creation, pluralism, disease, fundamentalist and erosion of morality.
     It was a forum where “everyone could keep his own faith but exchange ideas,” says Labeed Kady, chairman of the Outreach Committee of the Islamic Center of Raleigh. Other religious leaders from the Research Triangle were Imam Mohammed Baianonie of the Islamic Center of Raleigh; Dr. and Mrs. Ganga Sharma of Raleigh who founded the Hindu Society of North Carolina; Father Radu Bordeianu, Associate Priest at Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church, Raleigh; Venerable Chueh Chuan, director of the International Buddhist Progress Society, Cary; and Rabbi Raachel Jurovics, Associate Rabbi of Temple Beth Or, Raleigh.
     Dr. Sharma told the group of students that the “world has become flat,” where one can reach anyone, write to anyone in no time. He said one of his concerns is that Hinduism keep up with the pace of technology so that they can reach this generation. In speaking of changes in this world, he said that he was told in 1972 not to come to Raleigh. “This is the Baptist Belt. Now, I’m here in a Baptist center.” There are 980 members of the Hindu Society of North Carolina that started in his home.
     Venerable Chueh Chuan, a Buddhist nun who says she has 2,000 brothers and sisters in her Buddhist family, shared several concerns including the increase in depression and suicide. She says that everyone needs a faith and needs to work very hard to follow that faith and keep its precepts. She says that wisdom and energy will come from that faith. She also listed other concerns such as protecting the environment, sexual misconduct, disease and war.
     Rabbi Jurovics acknowledged Dr. Sharma’s concern about the fast pace of life and says that the instability from the speed “feeds fear and fundamentalism.” She says that one of the challenges she sees in her faith community is nurturing a sense of community in congregations and between congregations and the larger faith community and in relationship to God. “Lightning did not strike when we all sat down here,” she adds. She says that people need to retain connection to their spiritual roots as they go into a new reality. She also expressed concerns about ecology, saying that one should “serve the creation that God has blessed us with” and the church should be speaking up for this.
     Father Radu spoke to the challenge of pluralism and the need to be faithful to the “unchanging truth” but also “become all things to all people,” quoting from Paul in the Bible. He suggested that Christians could learn meditation from the Buddhist and fasting from the Muslim. One of his main concerns is the tension between being “closed in a bubble” of our own faith and adopting all that pluralism provides. He also spoke to moral decay, the fact that society is teaching people something that is not in line with religious traditions and the treasured values of the Bible.
     When asked about “worship wars,” such as traditional and contemporary practices, and the things that divide our local faith communities, they all acknowledged the existence of fundamentalism in their faith communities. “There’s no single voice for any of our traditions,” says Rabbi Jurovics. “Fundamentalism breeds separation rather than wholeness,” she adds. She said that it is counterproductive to spiritual growth.
     Imam Baianonie spoke to moderation, saying regardless of our faith differences, we need to focus on behavior and apply moderation in our thinking and practice. “Sometimes we choose to divide ourselves but that is not the teaching of God.” On September 11, 2001, when terrorists struck the twin towers in New York City, Dr. George Braswell, who planned the dialogue, called his long-time friend Imam Baianonie. Dr. Braswell is senior professor of world religions at Campbell University Divinity School.
     When asked how they can work together to be the “moral compass” in their communities, several of the panelists said that religious leaders need to educate themselves and their communities. “We need to know each other.” The goal of every religion, says Venerable Chueh Chuan, is equality and peace. “Even though we have different religions, we try to work together and respect each other.”
     The purpose of the dialogue at Campbell was “to build relationships with leaders of other religions and to foster understanding of the religious and cultural makeup of our region,” explains Dr. Barry Jones, associate dean of the Divinity School. He said that he also believes that through opportunities like this Campbell students will better understand their own faith. During fall break, Dr. Braswell took a world religions class to visit many of these leaders in their religious centers. Previously, he has done this with world religions classes at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.


Photo Copy: Rabbi Raachel Jurovics (right), associate rabbi of Temple Beth Or in Raleigh, made a point in a world religions panel discussion at Campbell University Divinity School while Father Radu Bordeianu, associate priest at Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church, Raleigh, listens.