Documentation

Abstract

The World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue (PCID) released this joint document in August 2020. The document offers a Christian basis for interreligious solidarity that can inspire and confirm the impulse to serve a world wounded not only by COVID-19 but also by many other wounds. Preamble What does it mean for Christians to love and serve our fellow human beings in a world in which the COVID-19 pandemic has inflicted widespread suffering? At a time such as this, the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue (PCID) call upon the followers of Jesus Christ to love and serve our neighbours. We focus on the importance of doing so in solidarity also with those who profess and practice religions that are different from our own or consider themselves unaffiliated to any particular faith tradition. This document aims to offer a Christian basis for interreligious solidarity that can inspire and confirm, in Christians of all churches, the impulse to serve a world wounded not only by the COVID-19 pandemic but also by many other wounds. While primarily intended to address Christians, we hope that it will be useful also to those of other religions, who have already responded to this crisis with similar thoughts based on their own traditions. The global challenge of responding to this pandemic calls us to increased ecumenical and interreligious awareness and cooperation. The parable of the Good Samaritan (cf. Luke 10:25-37) helps us to reflect on the question, "Whom are we called to love and care for?" and offers guidance about the complexities implied in the terms "service" and "solidarity." Jesus tells this story in the context of the command to love one's neighbour. When a man is wounded and left by the side of the road, members of his religious community pass him by and leave him unaided. The person who eventually stops and helps hima Samaritan-comes from a community that has been in dispute for centuries with his community about religious identity, the correct way to worship, and the right to participate in political matters. The story is an invitation to reflect on the need to transcend boundaries in one's service to, and solidarity with, the suffering. It is also a call to overcome the negative assumptions we may hold and to recognize with humility and gratitude that the 'other' (the Samaritan in this case) may show us the true meaning of service and solidarity. This parable challenges Christians to think about how to live in a world wounded by the COVID-19 pandemic, and by the scourge of religious intolerance, discrimination, racism, economic and ecological injustice and many other sins. We need to ask ourselves: who is wounded, and whom have we wounded or neglected? And where might we be surprised by seeing Christlike compassion in action? This story urges us to overcome religious prejudice and cultural biases in relation both to those whom we serve, and to those with whom we serve, as we strive to alleviate suffering and to re...