Integration in the Context of Cultural and Religious Diversity

Abstract

Cultural and religious pluralism has become a fact in the West. Actually, old European states have hosted not only “native people” but also the “others.” With time those “other” people – representatives of different cultures and religions – were becoming “natives” in a sense. The experience of pluralism in public life involves getting to know one another, which leads to the elimination of prejudices.

Christians and those who used to be Christians live side by side with various non-Christian cultures and traditions. Over the ages, non-Christian cultures and religions occupied specific geographic territories with strictly defined boundaries. At present, they are distributed across all continents. Religions are an integral part of non-Christian cultures. Each of them is characterised by an original doctrine, unique cult, morality and organisation with a particular authority at the helm. Followers of various religions and specific ideologies live in the same environments, i.e. multicultural milieux.

The phenomenon of “otherness” is part and parcel of human history, civilisation and culture. Descriptions of anthropogenesis, offered by various religious traditions, already identify what is “other” and what forms a more or less coherent whole. Human beings would not be their real selves if no “others” were around them. We are who we are thanks to “others.”

The 20^th century was a time of a raging hatred of the “other”, generated by utopian systems glorifying some people while annihilating others. Utopias, philosophical fictions and mythologies of the 20^th century were the quintessence of the aberrations of human thought. The second half of that century saw the gradual recovery from the effects of wars that are always a culmination of violence, cruelty and ruthlessness.

The path of integration can be found by discovering forgotten brotherhood, reinterpreting the past and overcoming the prejudices and grudges resulting from the bad past, affirming the identity of one’s own and others, and tolerance. Dialogue, in its various forms and manifestations, is a means to overcome strangeness and establish community ties.

Since ancient times, the Bible has been the book of dialogue and “integration” between ancient cultures, and between human beings and God. Jesus Christ is a model for dialogue and integration as vividly illustrated by the Gospel. Jesus never rejected anyone and He was never indifferent to “other” people. He was always open to dialogue even if it was very difficult. Jesus Christ appears very clearly as the one who integrates human beings with themselves, with other human beings as well as small communities such as the family and large communities such as nations and the Church. He is a model of community integration in its various references and manifestations.