A document proposed last year by the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue (PCID) encourages communities and Christian organizations to reflect upon Christian solidarity with other religions and confessions in a period marked by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The document, entitled “Serving a Wounded World in Interreligious Solidarity: A Christian Call to Reflection and Action During COVID-19 and Beyond”, mentions the psychological, economic, political and religious difficulties brought by the pandemic.
People have been deprived of public worship; some were deprived by the due funeral service; other will starve in the near future after the economy was stopped; there was an increase in domestic violence and isolation led to more anxiety and depression.
The document aims to mirror its authors’ openness and Christian responsibility to engage in dialogue with followers of other religious traditions.
For this purpose, it proposes a few guiding principles “in the work of serving each other in a wounded world, together with all people of faith and goodwill”:
- Find ways of bearing witness to suffering, drawing attention to it;
- Promote a culture of inclusivism which celebrates difference as God’s gift;
- Nurture solidarity through spirituality;
- Widen the formation of clergy, members of religious communities and orders and of young volunteers so that they be able to work in cooperation to offer complex forms of support;
- Engage and support young people, whose idealism and energy can be an antidote to the temptation of cynicism;
- Create space for dialogues;
- Work in cooperation with other communities.
“Ecumenical and interreligious solidarity enable our religious commitment to become a factor that unites, rather than divides, people,” states the document.
„May we, by opening our hearts in dialogue and by opening our hands in solidarity, build together a world marked by healing and hope,” wish the authors.
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