Inter-Religious Dialogue Program

In human history interreligious dialogue has been both a choice and a necessity. As a choice, this was primarily spawned by intellectual curiosity towards the mysterious ‘other’; as necessity it was often a defense strategy against religious supersession, spiritual hegemony, and public insecurity.

IPSEC’s religious approach to interreligious dialogue is designed from the perspective of a shared anthropology, whereby humanity is created in God’s image, and that any non-Orthodox organized religion or religious manifestation is a reminiscent of the primordial revelation. Additionally, IPSEC’s ethical approach to interreligious dialogue is designed from the perspective of a shared religious morality viewed as a key antidote to acts of injustice and war.

Specifically, IPSEC’s Inter-Religious Dialogue Program is not ideologically skewed, but designed to identify and comprehend concepts of parity between Orthodox Christianity and religious traditions that Orthodox Churches comes in contact with, particularly in zones of conflict. Specific programs will be crafted in a ways that would be distant from trivial approaches to religion. This is because, as Orthodox Christianity claims full ownership over revealed religious truth, interreligious dialogue often becomes exceedingly difficult due to what the political psychologist Vamik D. Volkan calls “chosen trauma” that prevents dialogue due to memories of hurt which are culturally reinforced, or because of fear of conversion which might delegitimize any religion’s exclusive claim for truth.

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