Interfaith cooperation is "God's radical call to inclusion," according to the Reverend Doctor James Forbes, Senior Minister of Riverside Church in New York. He views himself as "a radical relationist with an uncompromising commitment" to all individuals, of whatever faith tradition.
For chaplains ministering to a multifaith community, Dr. Forbes says stand firmly in the "particularity" of your faith while becoming part of the whole "beyond your prideful selves." The "particularities" of religions, he believes, are "specialties of perspective" that can feed the grace of interfaith cooperation.
The Reverend Dr. James Forbes: One in the Spirit focuses on a preacher full of vivid anecdotes. Dr. Forbes describes growing up in a southern household so full of children that his mother would ask if all were present before seating them at the table for dinner. Dr. Forbes was taught along with his siblings to first place a plate of food in the oven for any family member who was absent, an early lesson, he says, of the importance of inclusion.
The Riverside Church Senior Minister does not divide the world into "do-gooders" and "evil-doers," rather he calls on all individuals to live according to their highest values. He believes that one needs to "prepare for interfaith cooperation" and cautions that the "desire to maintain purity within the ranks of the faithful," while well-intentioned, can lead to closing doors against other religious traditions.
Dr. Forbes espouses interfaith cooperation in the strongest terms. In answer to the question "Am I my brother's keeper?" his emphatic answer is "Yes!"
