From John Manetta (Ref: Interfaith work with Humour)

[Guest guest]

Perfect example of the confusion that can occur with " interfaith " ,

and lead to a daily cocktail of hindu morning prayer, buddhist

midday prayer and christian evening prayer etc.

As a seller of ceremonies that priest is probably right though.

It can be good business for that Indian couple [asssumedly Christian]

to feel they are being cared for. Surely Hindus will not go to a

Christian church to get married, and if Christian they would not

expect to be sermonised by the Bhagavad Gita, which you rightly

discouraged.

 

One thing is positive, natural respect (not acceptance or tolerance)

for other faiths and other thing is incorporating bits of other faiths

in your faith. <snip>Respect for other faiths surely comes about by

properly knowing your own faith and understanding that the prime

objective is spiritual experience, not mere communal harmony

which must nevertheless be fostered among the non-philosophical.

You of course, from your continuous interfacing with others, will

have gained a lot more experience about how people think, than myself.

 

If you ask some priest about spiritual experience he will wonder

what you are talking about. He will surely think that knowing God is

impossible here and now, despite the fact that Christ said

" Be ye perfect..... " " Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make

you free " " Kingdom of heavan is within " etc. Vedanta can make them

understand what this truly means--not what they have learned at

theological school. Of course, spiritual practise is not for all, but

at least people should know what the deal is all about and have

faith that God's grace will otherwise care for them--thereby

they may at least become a bit more humble and loving.

 

Maya!

 

Regards

John Manetta