How can religions coexist if each claim the truth? - Interreligious dialogue with Fr Michael Barnes SJ

Religion Reconsidered

A question that I’ve always thought about: if each religion claims that what it teaches is true and that the way to salvation is through its teaching, then aren’t ideas of conversion and even forced conversion morally justified?

Is it possible to religiously justify a group such as ISIS who may say they are trying to convert people to their religion for their salvation. I appreciate there are many other issues at play with the ISIS thing and there are groups of people that do their utmost to convert people to their religious worldview but at a general level why is there not more attempts at conversion that goes on.

Fr Michael is a Jesuit, a former professor of interreligious relations at Heythrop College in London, was the director of the De Nobili dialogue centre which focused on interfaith communication, and served as a consultant to the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue in Rome and to the ecumenical Churches Commission on Inter-faith Relations. His expertise is on the eastern faiths of Hinduism and Buddhism and it's safe to say he is a preeminent voice in the area of interreligious dialogue. I posed to Fr Michael the question: if each religion claims that what it teaches is true and that the way to salvation is through its teaching, then aren’t ideas of conversion and even forced conversion morally justified?

In the ensuing conversation we don’t just talk about the importance of space and respect when it comes to interreligious dialogue but also how we can come to a deeper understanding of our own faith through when we listen and consider the point of view of the other. Ultimately he puts forward a very strong case that ideas of forced conversion are fundamentally antithetical to a loving religious practice.

Fr Michael has also written several books whose titles include: theology and the dialogue of religions, waiting on grace, interreligious learning, and Ignatian spirituality and interreligious dialogue.