Interfaith dialogue a must as bias, violence escalates

Early in my priesthood, the late Bishop Edward T. Hughes asked me to head the Commission for Ecumenism and Interfaith Affairs. This made sense to me since I had written my Master’s thesis on “Dialogue between Lutherans and Catholics on the Eucharist.”  My enthusiasm about the subject matter, perhaps due to the proximity of the Lutheran seminary in Gettysburg, Pa. to my seminary in Emmitsburg, Md. enabled me to delve into some productive and contemporary research.  It was not long after I received the position that antisemitism reared its ugly head in New York, in Crown Heights in particular. So, WWOR in Seacaucus asked if I would tape a public service announcement about the relationship between these bias crimes and what I perceived to be the best way to squelch this problem, I agreed to cooperate with enthusiasm.  
I approached antisemitism the same way I would approach homophobia, xenophobia or anti-Catholicism.  Basically I maintain that bias crimes, while clothed in hatred, are really rooted in ignorance.  Sometimes this ignorance is passed down from one generation to another at the dinner table, family functions or, worse, religious gatherings.  The best way to combat this ignorance underlying bias crimes is by educating our children from the middle school level through college. We need to teach what the different world religions hold about their vision of reality (God), their beliefs, their moral code and how they make this known through worship.  
On the first of this year, we crossed the threshold into the second decade of this millennium.  How can we bear witness to the same atrocities  that we dealt with 30, 50 or 100 years ago? Contrary to making positive changes in the Church, which can only happen from the top, social change, as in educating our youth in the hopes of eradicating bias, can only happen from below.
The week for Prayer for Christian Unity began on Sunday. It is the fervent desire of this writer and theologian that educators, both in the public, private and religious school systems, will  incorporate world religions into their social studies or religion curriculum. It is also my hope that interest in fostering theological dialogue between the major Christian denominations may begin anew.  While I had the graced opportunity to engage in this dialogue in the 1980s, joint statements and  panel discussions on where we agree or disagree theologically on certain topics, have waned.   
In this great country founded on religious freedom, people should feel free to practice their religion without fear of violence, verbal abuse or discriminatory job policies.  Nobody should be the victim of a crime simply because of the way he or she dresses, be it a yamulke or a hijab, a roman collar or religious veil.  Ultra-orthodox Jews should not suffer persecution because they attend a yeshiva to study the Talmud.  Hindus should not bear the brunt of jokes because of their accent when they speak English. Seiks should not be harassed because we do not like their turbans.
Of late we watched in horror as Iranian and Iraqi Shiites chanted “Death to America” at the funeral of their beloved and fallen general Qassem Soleimani this month.  It is very tempting for us to generalize and lump all Muslims into the category of “terrorists” or anti-American — but there are colonies of Palestinian, Pakistani, Persian, Turkish and central African Muslims who live in the United States, study in our universities and love America. They wish to raise their children in our schools to become productive members of American society. These good, hard-working, morally upright people wish to worship in their masjid or mosque. Why should they fear bias crimes due to the mayhem in the Middle East?  
Bias crimes are inexcusable.  They stem from hatred that is rooted in ignorance. Please, for love of humankind and the common good, let us pray for peace and justice, and work toward interfaith dialogue and Christian unity. Let us count on education, as an instrument of God’s grace, to come to our rescue and make bias crimes an anomaly of the past.  
Father Comandini is managing editor of “The Catholic Spirit.”