Bishop advocates interfaith peace

In the same way that countries have sought to work together through the United Nations, so, too, should the religions of the world, said the Rt. Rev. William Swing.

“There will never be peace among nations without peace among religions,” said the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of California. “And there will be no peace among religions unless people come together.”

With this vision of peace, Swing established the United Relations Initiative “to promote enduring, daily interfaith cooperation, to end religiously motivated violence and to create cultures of peace, justice and healing for the Earth and all human beings.” Today, the organization has thousands of members in 47 countries, representing more than 88 religions, spiritual expressions and indigenous traditions.

This weekend, the bishop will travel to Spokane to talk about the URI’s role in interfaith dialogue and to help celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist. Swing also will talk about the war in Iraq and pose the question, “Is the United States at war with Islam?”

Countries have worked together as the result of the U.N., Swing said during a phone interview from San Francisco. But in the last 50 years, people representing different faiths haven’t had the same cooperation. So he founded URI in 1995, after an interfaith service in San Francisco to commemorate the United Nations’ 50th anniversary. Since it began, URI has supported and funded numerous projects including youth and leadership development, the production and distribution of interfaith educational materials and regional and global interfaith gatherings.

Despite recent efforts at ecumenism throughout the world, there are still layers of resistance, the bishop said. “Some people think there’s only one way that God has spoken authentically and any other way is inferior, so there is nothing to be gained by associating with people of other religions,” he said.

But people don’t have to give up their beliefs in order to be open to people of other faiths and work for the common good, he said. “It’s a matter of being practical. It’s how a community must interact in order for there to be peace.”

In the same way that the United Nations is not a country, the United Religions is not a religion, he said. “It’s a way for people to get along.”

When people look around and notice the diversity in their communities – there are more Islamic mosques in the country than Episcopal churches, Swing noted – it slowly dawns upon them that “we are not alone here,” he said.

Swing made public statements condemning the war in Iraq before the conflict began last year. Some parishioners left his diocese as a result. Although he won’t make a political critique of the situation in the Middle East this weekend, he plans to trace the historical roots of the antagonism between Christianity and Islam through the centuries, as well as the antagonism between western and Islamic culture. “Once this is all over and we look back on it, one of the things we have to come to grips with is what does it take, in addition to military superiority, to produce a winning formula when you are in someone else’s country?”

Despite the hopelessness of the situation in Iraq and in other parts of the world, people should refuse to become apathetic, Swing said. In the last few years, URI has facilitated dialogue among people throughout the world.

Change begins at the grassroots level, the bishop said. “Lay people — that’s where it’s going to get done.”