UCCP on Inter-faith Dialogue: We need more

The need for more dialogue exposures to both Christian and Muslim religious rituals and practices was boldly expressed by the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) Pastor Mel Aoanan during the 2017 Mindanao Week of Peace Theological Forum at Saint Alphonsus Theological Mission Institute, Redemptorist, Bajada, last month. “The observance of such exposures has contributed to the country’s building mechanism of Muslims and Christians,” Aoanan said.

According to Aoanan, dialogue exposures promote stronger Muslim and Christian solidarity. The UCCP annually holds Kuyog Ramadan, an educational campaign that deepens the Christian awareness and understanding about Muslim Filipinos, which is participated by Christian students which were brought to Muslim villages to stay in a Muslim family for a day to observe and immerse themselves with Muslim rituals and practices.

Aoanan said that a dialogue exposure such as Kuyog Ramadan makes the realization of three factors. “First, the so-called Muslim and Christian conflict is not a battle of religion against Islam and Christianity,” Aoanan said. Aoanan explained that it is a battle for peace, harmony and other practical issues of life that we are facing.

“Second, both Christians and Muslims could grow from their spiritual practices and resources particularly the practice of ritual prayers and fasting,” Aoanan said. These resources could build a peaceful and harmonious “Christlamic” bond of solidarity, Aoanan added.

“Third, we are not only drawn closer by our shared poverty, but we are drawn closer in unity which we find only in God,” Aoanan said. “Our intimate conversations with God through practices of prayers and fasting lead us to establish a bond of solidarity that would resolve the landscape of peace, justice, development of our beloved but bleeding motherland,” Aoanan added.

Kevin Sulayaw, a reactor, applauded how the UCCP was formed from different Christian affiliations to unite into one. “It is a manifestation that the UCCP is indeed ready for inter-faith dialogues,” Sulayaw said.

2017 Mindanao Week of Peace Forum was a forum organized by the Redemptorist community in line with the celebration of Mindanao Week of Peace themed “Owning Mindanao History for Peace and Development” that ran from November 30-December 6 this year. (Patricia Dave Teoxon | HCDC Intern)