THE FUTURE OF INTER-RELIGIOUS DIALOGUE THREATS AND PROMISES

Abstract

During the past one hundred years since the meeting of the World
Parliament of Religions in Chicago. 1893, many events have taken
place whose consequences affect human life even to this day. The
two world wars, the first use of the atom bomb. the holocaust. the
increasing power of technological culture on human life and the many
smaller conflicts in various countries in which religions were involved
in one way or another. have raised critical questions about the role
of religions in history. The recent collapse of Marxism in Eastern
Europe and the rise of religious Fundamentalism in many parts of the
world also raise questions to which religious people do not have easy
answers. It is in this context that the future of inter-religious dialogue
has to be discussed. particualrly because there is a discernible ferment
now at the inter-section where people of different religious commit�ments live and work together in society.