OPINION: In interfaith a bit of honest dialogue goes a long way
Liz Harris-Sawczenko stresses the need to listen to different narratives
Josh Glancy’s opinion piece ends importantly on a constructive note with a call for engagement with Muslim communities. It would have been even more insightful if it had acknowledged or understood the depth with which the conflict has also impacted on Christian Jewish relations in the UK, but more on that later. The real essence of his piece is, so how do we engage better in such complex times?
A couple of weeks ago I organised an event in Westminster Abbey with 50 Muslim Jewish and Christian clergy and community leaders, even with it being during the holiest week of Ramadan, to listen to a Palestinian and Jewish Israeli, Maoz Inon and Aziz Abu Sarah, two extraordinary peace builders, both having lost close family members due to the conflict.
This followed on from a previous event of a similar nature last December with a similar group to listen to a Palestinian from Gaza, organised with Jewish News.
There were extremely diverse opinions in the room, and not only between those of other faiths. The first event last year filled the room but this time the event was oversubscribed. Why?
Because there was so much relief in enabling and hearing more than one narrative, however difficult that might be; in bringing nuance and complexity into a conflict where too many are afraid to acknowledge that there can always be more than one truth and that a hierarchy of victimhood is ultimately futile. With two people standing there telling us hate and revenge is not the answer, we were humbled. We allowed our common humanity space to breathe in that room, something too often missing on social media and elsewhere.
And there was something else I heard again and again at both events: “I haven’t sat in such a diverse room for so long’, ‘its so refreshing to meet people I would never otherwise meet’, ‘although things are so dire, this strangely gives me hope’. A little bit of human encounter goes a very long way and there simply isn’t enough right now…
We often come to dialogue with erroneous assumptions. Every community contains so much diversity and complexity within itself, as Josh points out. We need to be more curious. We need to know each others’ story. For example, Christian communities find it hard to articulate their concern for their communities in the Holyland, especially when it is depicted as a uniquely Muslim Jewish issue.
If we are to move forward as communities at this time, we need to make space for complexity and difference. We want life to be black and white, the grey areas are too difficult to navigate, especially if we fear being ostracised by our own communities and when it challenges our own deeply held beliefs; but if we want to engage more deeply with those that disagree with us, we have to be prepared to go there. None of us can afford to live in our own bubble of certainty at this time.
Because in the words of Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks ‘the antidote to conflict is conversation, speaking our fears, listening to the fears of others, and in that sharing of vulnerability discovering a genesis of hope’.
- Elizabeth Harris- Sawczenko, OBE, is an interfaith consultant
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