It just goes to show that people from different faiths can discuss their beliefs and differences together rationally and each come away enriched from the experience.
Discussing deeply-held convictions can all too easily degenerate with several traditional Christians who enjoyed arguing over points of doctrine in our respective religions. Each of us tried to simultaneously defend our own beliefs while attacking the beliefs of the others. It was an interesting way to pass the time, but the emphasis was on winning the debate and not on really trying to understand the others’ beliefs. And of course, no one would ever admit defeat. So no one ever really won, either.
I later understood what was wrong with this approach. In the Book of Mormon, 3 Nephi 11:29 we read: “For verily, verily I say unto you, he that hath the spirit of contention is not of me, but is of the devil, who is the father of contention, and he stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger, one with another.”
So all my friends and I were really doing was stirring up contention. As we did this, we also destroyed much of the groundwork we’d laid for real friendship, understanding, and cooperation. We were too busy disagreeing and trying to win.
But here’s a recent story about some people who have approached this same situation in a much more productive way. On October 19 and 20, 2007, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Evangelicals met in a conference to promote dialogue between the two faiths. The conference was held at the Salt Lake Christian Center and was hosted by Standing Together Ministries, in conjunction with the Salt Lake Theological Seminary.
The conference included five plenary sessions over two days, each including a Latter-day Saint and an Evangelical speaker. Latter-day Saint speakers included Dr. Robert Millet, Dr. Truman Madsen, and Dr. Camille Fronk. Topics centered around facets of interfaith dialogue.
There were also breakout sessions, student discussions, panel discussions, and workshops. There were also opportunities for students to direct questions to the speakers.
Participants interviewed for BYU NewsNet agreed that there was a real “spirit of friendship” about the conference. Many came away feeling that they had a better understanding of the beliefs of others. “I would recommend this to every Christian and Latter-day Saint because there are so many miscommunications and errors,” said Megan Falese, an Evangelical from Colorado.
I’m glad to see that there are people with different beliefs out there who are taking steps to get along and understand each other. Because we have a lot of common ground we can work with and use to make the world a better place – together.
