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Looking at all the catholic news recently, there was one a few months ago that perhaps should have received some more attention. A very high level meeting occurred in April between the Vatican and a delegation from Iran. The outcome of the meeting was a joint communiqué issued in which there were a number of items that the participants agreed on. And they committed to keep meeting, with the next meeting scheduled in Tehran within two years. The full communiqué is available here.

Here are the first three items they agreed on:

1. Faith and reason are both gifts of God to mankind.

2. Faith and reason do not contradict each other, but faith might in some cases be above reason, but never against it.

3. Faith and reason are intrinsically non-violent. Neither reason nor faith should be used for violence; unfortunately, both of them have been sometimes misused to perpetrate violence. In…

Inter-religious dialogues usually crash and burn when a simple question is asked: Must I believe what you believe to be saved? I have witnessed this phenomenon on several occasions. There is an awkward silence, followed by several throats being cleared at once.

Usually, a peace-maker in the group makes a valiant attempt to change the subject. (”The Blues could certainly use some salvation.”) Dialogue groups are not the only instances of religious triumphalism to intrude on my daily Jewish routine. The age of pluralism has given rise to a great deal of interest in all things Jewish, including the synagogue.

Hardly a month goes by when some group or other is joining us for a tour and sometimes staying for the worship service. In giving tours of our synagogue, I am often confronted by impromptu missionaries. They did not plan our meeting in order to bring a rabbi to the true faith.…