https://fb.watch/3T9U8ekVjp/ The Scriptural Reasoning Circle 1 2021 was organized on Tuesday, 23/2/2021 from 5.30-7.30 pm Malaysian time. It was attended by 18 people online via google meet. The reason for having it online was because of Movement Restriction Order which is still going imposed in Malaysia. In this circle, Father Eugene and Dr Alwani Ghazali both presented verses from the Bible and the Quran that are related to Religious Pluralism (RP). Dr Alwani who started the session by defining the wide spectrum of RP. She asserted that not only RP was celebrated due to its idea of pluralistic co-existence among different faith believers, RP also has certain implication on religious theological foundation. She stated that John Hick's concept of RP entails that religions are put on the similar standard of validity. It also implies that the notion of salvation which is exclusive to particular religion is no more existent. Father Eugene then elaborated on the concept of RP with the emphasis that everyone is God's creation and each and every of us are entitled for God's love. The historical journey of generation to generation and encounters reflect RP. In fact, Scriptural Reasoning exercise that has been held previousy with the experience of awe when reading the Scriptures is one of the positive marks of RP. God experiences achieved by religious believers also indicate similarities between them. Besides, the many efforts of interfaith dialogues in Malaysian villages and towns also indicates that RP is growing. The dialogue proceeded with the reading of verses of the Quran that spoke about fraternity of humankind, the inevitable diversity in human faiths and beliefs, the essence of kindness among human being, and the importance of knowing each other in this diversity in the forms of tribes, and skin colours. Specifically, verses that are shared are from Chapter 4: 1,Chapter 5: 48, Chapter 11: 118, Chapter 49: 13, Chapter 2: 11. Dr Alwani explained that these Quranic verses are possibly the basis of some Muslim scholars holding the view of supporting RP while ignoring the theological implication. Father Eugene shared Responsorial Psalms 34:4-5, 6-7, 16-17, 18-19, also Prophet Isaiah (Chapter 55) verses 10-11. He told the historical context of the verse which is related to God experience of Prophet Isaiah. These texts are important for Catholic Christians all over the world at this point of time as they are fasting and contemplating on the purification of the soul and fulfillment of promise. There is an expression of comfort to sooth and save the souls from distress. In Matthew (Chapter 6), verses 7-15, the content is about intense prayer during fasting, asking of forgiveness and save from evil and transgressions. Dr Alwani clarified from Father Eugene on RP whether he accepted RP. Father Eugene answered in the affirmative and elucidated that everyone experiences God in many ways. The Church has embraced and accepted the sense of divine and goodness in all religions. Asked whether other denominations in Christianity might have believed otherwise, Father Eugene reaffirmed that God is the God for all humanity and that this reaffirmation is always reiterated to the Christians who somehow view RP in a negative sense. The session continued with Dr Alwani presenting the holistic view of Quranic verses which shows that Islam is exclusive in the issue of salvation. She read Chapter 3: verse 19 which stated that the only religion in the sight of Allah is Islam , and the whole of Chapter 109 which summarizes the unnegotiable nature of Islamic creed and rituals. She also read some other verses that show the importance of being just to everybody in whatever circumstances one is facing. She ended the reading with the verses from Chapter 3: 130-136 on importance of hastening to the forgiveness of Allah and purification of one's soul through character building. Dr Alwani concluded that her stance is against RP which entails the theological implications as advocated by John Hicks, but she cherishes pluralistic co-existence, interfaith dialogue and dialogue in general. She expressed that as a Muslim, the stories in the Quran on the Prophets' mission to spread Allah's religion inspire her to become committed and to do da'wah by being kind to all human kind. Father Eugene concluded by emphasizing on God's love on every individual and fraternity of humanity. He introduced to the document that are agreed upon by the Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of al-Azhar Ahmed al-Tayyeb. The dialogue was concluded by agreement of the upcoming Scriptural Reasoning sessions for every month. This Scriptural Reasoning session was recorded and put on the facebook page of UM Centre for Civilisational Dialogue.   

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