I'm writing a paper on interfaith dialogue. What sources do you recommend?

Something remarkable happens when you look at the world's sacred traditions not as competitors but as witnesses: they keep pointing at the same things. Human beings share a common origin that makes estrangement a kind of forgetting. Compassion, extended without limit to the stranger and the outsider, turns out to be not a peripheral nicety but the structural core of ethical life — and the willingness to approach the other without prejudice is treated, again and again, as a spiritual discipline in its own right.

Drawn from 22 passages across Baha'i, Buddhist, Judaism

Is humanity one, despite its religious divisions?

The image keeps returning: one tree, countless leaves. Several traditions root human unity not in shared doctrine but in shared origin.

Baha'i

All humanity shares one common origin and nature.

Ye are all the fruits of one tree and leaves of one Branch. He likeneth the existing world unto a tree, and the people to the leaves, flowers, and fruits thereof.

Baha'i

Divine purpose is explicitly the uniting of all peoples.

We, verily, have come to unite and weld together all that dwell on earth.

Baha'i

Humanity forms one body regardless of national or creedal boundary.

The earth is one country, and mankind its citizens.

What ethical ground do traditions share beneath their differences?

Loving-kindness extended without limit, and the command to love the stranger — these are not footnotes. They are the architecture.

Baha'i

Prejudice dismantles the shared ethical edifice of humanity.

Political, economic and patriotic prejudices destroy the edifice of humanity. As long as these prejudices prevail, the world of humanity will not have rest.

Buddhist

Loving-kindness is to encompass every being without limit.

A certain person abides with his heart imbued with loving-kindness extending over the all-encompassing world.

Judaism

Love of the outsider and stranger is a formal commandment.

To love a convert, as Deuteronomy 10:19 states: And you shall love a convert.

Judaism

The stranger who joins is doubly covered by the command to love.

One who has come to nestle under the wings of the Shechinah fulfills two positive commandments: one because he is included among the neighbors whom we are commanded to love.

Buddhist

Boundless compassion without exception is the ethical standard.

Let none deceive another, or despise any being in any state. Let none through anger or ill-will wish harm upon another. Even as a mother protects with her life her child, her only child, so with a boundless heart should one cherish all living beings.

Buddhist

Loving-kindness must be extended in every direction without boundary.

A certain person abides with his heart imbued with loving-kindness extending over one quarter, likewise the second, likewise the third, likewise the fourth, and so above, below, and all around — everywhere, with a vast, exalted, measureless heart, free from hostility and ill will.

Judaism

The golden rule of reciprocal love is the Torah's central principle.

Love your neighbor as yourself. Our Sages said this is a great principle in the Torah. Hillel said: That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow — this is the entire Torah; the rest is commentary.

Why do traditions teach humility before the fullness of truth?

The willingness to investigate without prejudice, to look at the other without estrangement — this turns out to be a spiritual discipline, not merely a social courtesy.

Baha'i

Unprejudiced inquiry is the prerequisite for genuine spiritual investigation.

We will investigate religion, seeking from an unprejudiced standpoint to discover whether it is the source of illumination, the cause of development and the animating impulse of all human advancement.

Baha'i

Genuine dialogue requires transcending personal opinion toward shared truth.

In this Cause consultation is of vital importance, but spiritual conference and not the mere voicing of personal views is intended.

Baha'i

Seeing others as strangers is a posture to be actively abandoned.

The Tabernacle of Oneness is raised; look not upon each other with the eye of strangers.

Buddhist

Humility and gentleness are the practical posture of one seeking peace.

This is what should be done by one who is skilled in goodness and who knows the path of peace: let them be able and upright, straightforward and gentle in speech, humble and not conceited.