Erosion of religious belief by ecumenical dialogue
Claim
1. Vibrant faith does not dialogue. It proclaims, instructs, judges and persuades. Ecumenical dialogue is a liberal scheme aimed at the evisceration of true religion. It is a substitute for doctrine and dogma. 2. The chief danger of religious dialogue is the desire to come to a conclusion in anticipation of that which can only emerge through the processes engendered by the creator. 3. Religious dialogue with other faiths is a betrayal of mission.
Counter-claim
1. True dialogue attends to distinctiveness, knowing that disagreements are often of much greater interest than agreements and that agreements are discovered and tested by working through disagreements. True believers cannot have their faith shaken by dialogue only strengthened.
Interfaith dialogue 2. What we have just said must also be applied, although in another way and with the due differences, to activity for coming closer together with the representatives of the non-Christian religions, an activity expressed through dialogue, contacts, prayer in common, investigation of the treasures of human spirituality, in which, as we know well, the members of these religions also are not lacking. Does it not sometimes happen that the firm belief of the followers of the non-Christian religions (a belief that is also an effect of the Spirit of truth operating outside the visible confines of the Mystical Body) can make Christians ashamed at being often themselves so disposed to doubt concerning the truths revealed by God and proclaimed by the Church and so prone to relax moral principles and open the way to ethical permissiveness. It is a noble thing to have a predisposition for understanding every person, analyzing every system and recognizing what is right; this does not at all mean losing certitude about one's own faith or weakening the principles of morality, the lack of which will soon make itself felt in the life of whole societies, with deplorable consequences besides. (Papal Encyclical, Redemptor hominis, 4 March 1979).
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Type
(F) Fuzzy exceptional problems