(Cont. from Part 1) "Ecumenism" is the idea of promoting unity between various religions. It's almost an inherently self-contradictory idea, because the distinctiveness of each religion implies an exclusion of the other religions' ideas. If Christians are right about the nature of God as a Trinity, for instance, then the Jewish and Muslim would certainly seem to be wrong.
Still, the attempts to reach some kind of common ground among religions are very important, even though the emotive power of religion among the wealthy nations of the world is decreasing over time. Yes, it is decreasing, despite blips in the trend and despite the Protestant evangelists who perpetually find unmistakable signs of the world turning to God.
James Carroll gives a good summary of the need for ecumenical efforts in an article criticizing the fanatical and foolish Christian General Boykin:
The ethical dilemma facing all religions today, but perhaps especially religions of revelation [i.e., the three "Abrahamic" or "monotheistic" faiths], is laid bare here: How to affirm one's own faith without denigrating the faith of others? The problem can seem unsolvable if religion is understood as inherently dialectic - reality defined as oppositions between earth and heaven, the natural and the supernatural, knowledge and revelation, atheism and theism, secularism and faith, evil and good. If the religious imagination is necessarily structured on such polarities, then religion is inevitably a source of conflict, contempt, violence. My faith is true, yours is idolatry. My God is bigger than your god. My God is a warrior, and so am I.
Yet there are also kinds of ecumenical cooperation that go in a very different direction that Hough or Carroll might like. The US under the influence of the Christian Right has joined with the Vatican and with Muslim nations like Iran and Libya to oppose international family-planning efforts, due to a mixture of concerns aobut abortion, birth control and the empowerment of women. (Cont. in Part 3)
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