I am Joseph Chitwara, from the Democratic Republic of Congo, and I belong to the Society of the Missionaries of Africa, which is part of the Roman Catholic Church. I am 30 years old and have a keen interest in peace and harmonious living among religions.
My interfaith experience at Harmony Institute is a practical dialogue of life between a Catholic Christian and Muslims. First, I must note that dialogue is a search for understanding, not agreement. Inter-religious dialogue is about understanding one another—to understand the other’s tradition, belief, culture, and how it differs from ours. People engaged in dialogue do not necessarily have to agree with one another’s perceptions. They do not even have to create a common ground in terms of religious belief to proceed.
Being a Christian from a Catholic background, I had several misconceptions and prejudices regarding Islam and Muslims. To me, Islam meant a religion of violence, war, and terrorism. After engaging in dialogue with several Muslims at Harmony Institute, my perception of Islam as a religion changed completely. I came to realize that the very name Islam means “peace” and therefore, the religion itself is primarily about peace. My experience proved that the greatest obstacle I had was ignorance of Islam and its teachings and doctrines. Within dialogue, there is a search for common ground and a declaration that religions share a responsibility for the well-being of humankind and for the preservation of the earth. Above all, I discovered that inter-religious dialogue fosters an attitude of respect for people of different beliefs.
Second, we organized monthly programs of Scriptural Reasoning which brought together Jews, Christians, and Muslims. I was once given the privilege to be the leader of a Scriptural Reasoning program where we discussed the figure of Joseph as a model of forgiveness and tolerance in both the Bible and the Qur’an. Just like many Christians, I was surprised to hear from Islam and the Qur’an the teachings on tolerance and forgiveness. Even more, I discovered the same teachings from some Islamic scholars like Fethullah Gülen, who notes that “Forgiveness and tolerance will heal most of our wounds, if only this celestial instrument will be in the hand of those who understand its language.”
Lastly, I visited the mosque, and a few Muslims came to our parish for an interfaith experience. I equally participated in some forums at Brahma Kumaris where we discussed the topic of meditation. My experience has been that of a dialogue of life seeking harmony and peace among religions and people above all. What matters most in any inter-religious dialogue is the awareness that “the greatest gift that the generation of today can give their children and grandchildren is to teach them how to forgive. Forgive even when confronted by the worst behaviour and the most disturbing events,” as Gülen remarks.
Therefore, I call upon everyone—youth, the elderly, and people of goodwill—to pursue what leads to peace, understanding, and building up each other. Moreover, we must learn from each other’s religions and teachings to avoid what separates and divides us. For this to occur, a culture of forgiveness and tolerance ought to be cultivated and promoted.
