Pope Francis made news last week with a video promoting interfaith dialogue. Here's my stab at a transcript.
Most of the planets inhabitants declare themselves believers. This should lead to dialog between religions. We should not stop praying for and collaborating with those who think differently.
{Argentinian Buddhist leader Rinchen Kandro}I have confidence in the Buddha
{Argentinian Jewish Rabbi Daniel Goldman}I believe in God
{Catholic Priest Guillermo Marco} I believe in Jesus Christ
{Argentinian Muslim leader Omar Abboud} I believe in God. Allah
Many think differently, feel differently, seeking God or meeting God in different ways [shot of Pope with Buddhist-looking monk]. In this crowd, this range of religions [shot of Pope with an Eastern Orthodox-looking priest], there is only one certainty we have for all [Pope in group hug with a couple of Jews], we are all children of God.
{Kandro, Goldman, Marco and Abboud} I believe in love. (spoken separately)
I hope you will spread my prayer request this month: that sincere dialogue among men and women of different faiths may produce the fruits of peace and justice. {Shots of a hand-sized Buddha, a hand-sized menorah, a baby boy doll and some (Muslim?) prayer beads]. I have confidence in your prayers.
Let me unpack that one. It's interesting that Francis called upon some of his contacts from his days in Argentina to have cameo roles in this video.
Should we take with people of other faiths? Yes, it's called evangelism, one thing the Pope wants to stress.
Should we pray for those folks? Yes, including that they see the Light of the gospel.
Should we collaborate with them? In ways that don't subvert the gospel, yes. There are any number of things that we can find ourselves in common cause with non-Christians.
Are we all, believers or no, children of God? Yes. One can nit-pick that we have more than that one certainty to offer the world, but the idea that everyone is a child of God worthy of respect doesn't seem off the reservation.
Can we have increased peace and justice through interfaith dialogue? It wouldn't hurt. As long as the Gospel isn't watered down or some sort of universalist creed gets called upon as part of the process, talking about what we have in common could reduce tensions and misconceptions.
In and of itself, this doesn't reek of the Mark of the Beast. Note that Francis never mentioned that they were praying or worshiping the same God, just that they were all children of God. He is a bit cozier with folks of other faiths that I'd be comfortable with, but diplomacy is generally a papal strong-suit.
A number of folks, mostly of a hawkish evangelical bent, cast this as a call for one world religion. The closest he comes to that is the second paragraph's "meeting God in different ways." I'm not up to digging into the Spanish nuance, but the translation seems to give a nod to the idea that there are different ways of "meeting God." The problem is that a lot of ways of meeting God won't have Him in the best of moods.
Yes, there is a Catholic idea that good folks of other faiths can be following Jesus without knowing it. However, I don't see that coming into play here.
The mood of the day is to be belligerent towards the "other", especially Islam. That's not the most helpful witness; you'll likely get farther with respect and caring than doing a Triumph the Insult Dog imitation.
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