The subject ‘church and the people of different living faiths’ has been a topic of significant concern for all people who love peace, harmony and justice. At this juncture, we must acknowledge the Honorable Arch Bishop’s significant initiatives towards promoting inter-faith dialogues between Christians and Muslims and also his challenging vision to India which was reflected in the messages delivered in New Delhi on 10^th Oct and in Madras on 17^th Oct 2010.

In the current world scenario of religious disparities and divisions what is the unique gift that Christians can offer the people of other faiths. What is the uniqueness that we can uphold while we deliberate with the people of other faiths?

This reflection is built upon the context of the Post-Ayodya verdict which demonstrated to the world that one’s own constitutionally protected personal freedom of faith is shattered with the shocking application of “Solomon’s sharing law” where the injustice of breaking of law, encroachment of freedom of worship and worship place, through muscle and political power, has been disregarded. No national or international Christian Community has a voice on the verdict. The world of today is scared of the magic of the Indian economic boost and the ever praised secular and democratic nature of the country.

In the midst of all instabilities and turmoil, India is best known for the cohesive co-existence of the people of the different faiths. However it is also appropriate for us as a “universal church” to introspect how we have damaged the cohesive co-existence of people of different faiths in this land. It was this realization which paved the way for the emergence of theologies which were attentive to the issues of interfaith relations.

It was our brothers and sisters of different faiths who embraced us when the Good News of Jesus came into India for the first time. But immediately the new community cultivated an ethno-centric (high caste consciousness) approach and were happy to be known as “Hindu in Culture, Christian in Religion and Oriental in Worship”[1]. The advent of the Portuguese, and other different denominational missionaries unlocked the barriers of the Good News and moved across the land, particularly among the subalterns. However, neither the former nor the latter could successfully convince our neighbor of other faiths that we, like them too, carry an ever shining light. This was because; the light of the gospel was covered with the darkness of imperial motifs.  We rejected the concept of ‘many-faiths’ and labored for ‘one faith’. Comparisons were made between religions which resulted in conflicts.

All this resulted in the emergence of different voices of Indian Christian Theologians, belonging to the spiritual-contemplative, the philosophical-theological and the socio-political schools of thought[2]. Cautiously they set the norms and the rationale of the ecclesial responses to the people of different faiths. They expressed their theological and spiritual stands by affirming that “Christianity and Hinduism both meet in Christ” as emphasized by Raimund Panikkar[3]. Stanly J. Samartha’s proposed a Theo-centric Christology to engage positively with the people of other faiths. Mor Osthathios, an Indian orthodox theologian affirmed that “trinity is the model for a society that extols equality despite distinctions”[4]   Thus, the Christo-centric, Theo-centric, and Triniterian models of theologies appeared.  K.P. Aleaz, deliberated the concept of “pluralistic inclusivism and Theo-pluralism.”[5] Salvation and humanization was another new paradigm proposed by M. M. Thomas. According to him “the mission of salvation and the task of humanization are integrally related to each other, even if they cannot be considered identical.”[6]   These endeavors have their own affirmative and disparaging effects from within and outside. They have developed a space for the people of different faiths to come together with a new eschatological hope.

However, in the present Indian context there is need for us to build further upon what has been achieved so far theologically and translate the same into practices. Our engagement with people of other faiths should take a shape where by all can come together to enjoy the values of the reign of God – namely justice and peace. Thus, given that the uniqueness of the Christian faith lies in Jesus Christ, our approach to people of other faiths should be rooted in and shaped by Jesus Christ.

Let’s go back to the last words of Jesus elucidated in the bible “You shall be my witness, to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Since it demands us to be witness; we presume that our responsibilities only involve proclamation of Jesus’ uniqueness. However, the challenge today is to make the uniqueness of Christ tangible, as only proclamation does not make Christ tangible. We need to move beyond the ‘intangibility of Jesus’ uniqueness’ that has been at the heart of several inter-faith initiatives towards a more positive effort of making Jesus’ uniqueness tangible. There is need for a tangible witness-which can make tangible the uniqueness of Christ. Talking about the uniqueness of Jesus Christ we can recognize that the key to recognition of tangible uniqueness of Jesus Christ lies in Jesus’ consistent examples of listening to unheard voices and radical identification with the unapproachable and non-identifiable. Voices which were suppressed found expression and affirmation in his presence; people who were considered unapproachable were guests and hosts in his table fellowship. It is these tangible examples of Jesus’ uniqueness that should inform our attempts at engaging in inter-religious dialogue while affirming the uniqueness of Christ. The uniqueness of Christ has often been a source of conflict in interreligious dialogue… mostly because of its intangibility. Can giving it tangibility enhance inter-faith relationships and translate dialogue into practice? The challenge for the church in its relation to other faiths today, in my opinion, is to seek to bring this ‘tangible uniqueness of Christ to the enterprise of interfaith engagement.

Christianity as following the Christ who listens to the unheard and radically identifies with the unapproachable can issue a challenging invitation to other faiths to work together in solidarity with the unidentified for recapturing justice, peace and harmony.  At the heart of our inter faith engagement should be our commitment to the ‘tangible uniqueness’ of Christ – a uniqueness which seeks to offer life in all its fullness for all. The ‘tangible uniqueness’ of Christ challenges and cautions us to listen the voices of the people of the other faiths and also to the voices of the unheard. In the context of the Ayodhya verdict  it involves paying special attention to those voices which are likely to be submerged by the  politics of tact which relies and thrives on creating an overwhelming feeling of ‘feel-goodness’ among a majority of the people?  What is also required today is the commitment to identify ourselves in radical solidarity with the struggles of the people who have been deprived of their basic human dignity and freedom. Only if we place the “tangible uniqueness” of Jesus as reflected in his listening the unheard and communing with the reproachable at the heart of our interfaith dialogues can our witness be both challenging and tangible in the 21^st Century Indian context.