This article was written by Rev. Aurelia Davila Pratt,
Lead Pastor of Peace of Christ Church in Round Rock, Texas.
In my six years as a Baptist pastor, the ministry that I am most proud of is the interfaith work my church has spearheaded in our community. This may not sound very provocative, but I come from a tradition where this type of work has often been frowned upon. And some people are still hesitant about attending our dialogues because of the stigma associated with that tradition. What I wish people could understand is this: at its most basic level, interfaith work is simply getting to know your neighbor.
As a Christian, I am called not just to know my neighbor, but to love my neighbor. And Jesus commanded not just to love our neighbors, but to love them as we love ourselves. In the Gospel of Matthew, the biblical precedence for love (commonly known as the “Golden Rule”) is set when it says to do to others as we would do to ourselves. However, many are not aware that the same concept exists within a large number of world religions including Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, and the Bahá’í Faith.
This ethic for love is a common virtue among us all, which tells me that, in fact, we are far more alike than we are different. Five years of interfaith work has taught me this primary lesson. When we get to know the people who aren’t like us, but who live near us, we learn things that change our hearts and transform how we live and move in the world. Interfaith work matters because it teaches us to get to know our neighbors.
And getting to know our neighbors is extremely important In today’s social and political climates, because we all experience so much divisiveness, misunderstanding and polarization. Faith traditions are especially affected by this, and certain faith groups like Islam or Judaism are often unfairly targeted because of fear based biases and bigotry. As a Christian in a predominantly Christian country, I might not always see this, but because of my interfaith work, I am all too aware of my privilege. I can study my bible in a public place with the knowledge that no one will blink an eye. I can wear my clergy garb around town confident it will cause no fear. I can even get away with praying in public without causing a stir. All of this gives me the privilege of assuming my religious liberty is protected. This assumption is an illusion that many Christians believe, yet most other faith groups in society cannot share in this privilege.
The truth is religious liberty in America is a freedom, but it’s a fragile one. We may feel like it’s automatic, but it’s not. We may have assumed it is set in stone, but there are organizations actively working to protect it every single day. One terrific example is the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty who has a team of lawyers, advocates and educators on the ground in Washington, D.C., working tirelessly for religious freedom for all people and faith traditions.
Even so, I consider the work of preserving religious liberty to be a shared responsibility. We all have an obligation to live as engaged, responsible citizens for the betterment of our communities. People of faith should take this duty very seriously because of its connection to our call to care for creation and to love those around us. With the Golden Rule in mind, we protect religious liberty not just for ourselves, but also for the sake of our neighbors, no matter our faith tradition. An easy way to start is by getting to know people who are different from us, who look different from us, who worship another god or who don’t worship any god at all. In other words, interfaith community is a great place to begin.
