What is Interfaith?

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What We Learn From Our Faiths

By Matt Pizzuti, PRISM peer minister

At PRISM, our most valued beliefs are our common beliefs in the value of our differences, the importance of harmony, the power of love, and the need for spirituality in our lives. But we have other beliefs that are not the same; “interfaith” is not a religion in itself, it is the peaceful coming-together of more than one religion. We believe we are all strengthened by the presence of those unlike ourselves.

We celebrate the good qualities of each faith and try to live the positive lesions they teach. It doesn’t mean we believe all religions are basically the same; we know that some of the basic tenants of many of our world religions are direct rebuttals of other religions, and they are all unique and different. But there are also many teachings that overlap, and our challenge is to cherish the best they have to offer, and to create more harmony and understanding in the world through our understanding of each other.

Christianity

At the heart of Christianity is love; a powerful love that for all humanity, that is willing to face persecution, suffer, or even die for the sake of another. Worthiness is not an issue in that love; love should be unconditional, not based on human judgments of who “deserves” it. Christianity’s central figure, Jesus, asked us to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, tend to the sick, and visit those in prison. He said that love for the divine and for each other is God’s greatest commandment. But the love Jesus talks about isn’t just a love for those who are good to us, he explains; we have to love our enemies too. Jesus said that everyone loves family, friends, and those who are good to us, because we benefit from them. But Jesus asks us to go beyond that, to forgive our transgressors and pray for those who persecute us. Feeling attached to those we gain from isn’t true love; indeed, we don’t love anyone, even our friends and family, until we can put that love ahead of all other things. That means a willingness to sacrifice everything we have for love, and an eagerness to love even those who require the most effort.

Islam

Islam teaches that there is a brotherhood of humanity. Its central belief is the concept of oneness, including the oneness of God, the oneness of creation, and the oneness of humanity. That means there is no race, nationality, ability, or difference among human beings; we are all called to treat each other as brothers and sisters. In the Qur’an, Islam’s holy scripture, God even says that humans were created with different races and religions so that they may get to know each other for mutual benefit. In the same vein of teaching oneness, Islam teaches there is no duality between our religious lives and our everyday lives; everything we do should account for God’s presence and the constant need to live with compassion and fairness to all. That includes our economic activities, our romantic lives, our family life, and our sense of purpose.

Islam also has high ideals of justice, that there is a correct way for human beings to relate to each other, as equals. Obedience is for everyone, including the rich and powerful; society is ruled by laws, not human beings who are prone to corruption. That sounds a lot like ideas we have here in the West, where our society is governed by a Constitution, not kings, and we strive to apply it as fairly as possible.

The world being what it is, there is great conflict between the Islamic world and the West. It is one of our greatest challenges at PRISM, as an interfaith group and as human beings, to build bridges with our Muslim brothers and sisters.

Buddhism

Buddhism teaches awareness for our surroundings, and teaches us to look beyond things as they seem. What it calls “enlightenment” is extremely rare: when Siddhartha reached true enlightenment under the bodhi tree, the event was so powerful that the earth rose like a pedestal beneath where he sat. That hasn’t happened to many of us, so we all know we are not yet “enlightened” – we are still bound by the subjectivity that makes us human, and we are not always “right.” We are just pieces of a whole, and by studying Buddhism can learn that we should not become cocky or arrogant thinking we understand everything.

Buddhism also teaches detachment; that we live happier, healthier, and more productive lives when we separate ourselves from outcomes and expectations. When we do a good deed, we should not expect something good in return, because we could be disappointed. Instead, when we expect nothing, we are more likely to be pleased when good things do come. Buddhism is known for its teachings about karma, the idea that all of our thoughts and actions, for good or ill, will come back to effect us. But karma can’t truly work to our advantage until we can separate ourselves from what we expect, and be willing to wait a long time – even lifetimes – to see the rewards of doing good.

But Buddhism has a more beautiful message than any of that: of the interdependence and connectedness of all things. There is no such thing as isolation and our paths are all linked. We are not truly separate from other people, from animals and other forms of life, from our environment, or even from the universe itself.

Hinduism

One of Hinduism’s most valuable teachings is that of nonviolence. Its unique concept of nonviolence is called “ahimsa,” and means compassion and non-harm to every living thing. That includes other human beings, animals, even insects, and it also includes the people who try to harm us. It stems from the belief that everything has the same basic essence, and we are only yet to realize that essence.

Ahimsa was Gandhi’s motivation when fighting for India’s independence from Great Britain through peaceful resistance. A person should not submit to injustice, but resistance should be based on the highest and purest behavior possible. Gandhi believed that if he responded to violence directed towards him with only patience and compassion, it was more powerful than any weapon, because it made attacker realize that he or she was wrong and forced that person to become more enlightened. Gandhi’s actions forced the British to live a higher ideal, for the benefit of all. At Prism, we have a special connection to Gandhi's style of social activism. One of or missions is social justice - justice for the poor, the needy, for racial, ethnic and religious minorities, for GLBTQ persons, and for future generations that are effected by our environmental choices.

Another great lesson found in Hinduism is pluralism. Hinduism teaches that there are no “bad” religions; each is, rather, just a “different path up the same mountain.” The peak of the mountain is God, heaven and enlightenment, and we are all on some sort of path up that mountain. Work that an individual does to advance him or herself on that path is called his “dharma,” and one person’s dharma is different from another’s.

Earth Religions

Earth religions are part of a new religious movement that draws upon some of the oldest world religions, including pre-Christian European religions, Native American religions, ancient African religions, and others. Many of the world religions have an emphasis on humanity’s flaws, failings, and need for improvement, but Earth religions encourage us to celebrate where we are and remind us that the divine is already here with us. Earth religions are a celebration of life, and teach that, while we are spiritual beings, one component of that spirituality is involvement in our physical needs, our bodies, our desires, and our dependence on physical surroundings. Earth religions teach us the power that physical movements and rituals have over the mind and the spirit.

They also teach us of our need to care for the Earth and all its beings. We are encouraged not to limit our minds to the abstract monetary economy we live but to consider the greater economy of all life on Earth – our place is as a part of that ecosystem, not above it. We are responsible to care for the Earth, as it cares for us, and can have respect and love not just for breathing animals that have emotions we can recognize, but also for plants, mountains, stars, ecosystems, continents, and the whole planet, which has its own right to exist independent of our own.

Humanism

Humanism is an expression of hope and optimism in what the human mind can accomplish. It is our belief that we can and are making things better all the time, even when we still have a long way to go.

Humanism is also a celebration of science, discovery, rational inquiry, technology, and all the improvements that make our lives better today than they were in the past. It’s a focus on social justice, human rights, and human society, and an awareness of the needs of members of our community who are persons of color, GLBTQ, have disabilities, or are disadvantaged.

There is often a sense of agnosticism associated with humanism – one that many of us at PRISM share. Relying on what can be observed, we know that our religious beliefs could be wrong and that there is far more that we don’t know than what we do. That calls for a sense of respect and humility, no matter how devout we are in our views. As humanists, we don’t require a religious belief as a ticket to our community; spirituality isn’t about believing in God or a soul, it’s about living a mysterious and complex reality in a meaningful, conscious, and appreciative way.

Not everyone at PRISM will agree with all the opinions and descriptions I expressed here, but I hope I've touched upon what unites us as a group. We exist to create a supportive social structure for our members, to make known to others that spirituality is broad and accessible to everyone, and to defiantly stand against hatred and prejudice in a positive way by loving and appreciating each other's differences.