Meeting Our Multifaith Neighbours

Meeting Our Multifaith Neighbours by Brice H. Balmer. Toronto: McClelland and Steward Ltd., 2005.

reviewed by Javed Akbar

Sometimes we pigeonhole ourselves to our own detriment. The time has come for us to take off the blinkers, look past the stereotypes and view religion in the dimension for which it was intended. Harmony among religions is possible, provided we are willing to shift from religion to spirituality.

Our practical life contradicts the spiritual ideals we endorse in theory. The spirit of negativity dominates the multi-faith space and shapes religious attitudes. This mind-set leads us to perceive of our neighbours as the enemies of our faith.

There is an urgent need to evolve a multi-faith code through mutual consultation, within a framework that can accommodate the genius of each religion and minimize the offence of what is unique and different. Here is a book that looks at how we can be a religious person and a better human being.

In Meeting our Multifaith Neighbours, Brice H. Balmer passionately narrates touching stories of how people of faith have come together under one roof, understanding their differences, yet respecting each other’s faith perspectives. Balmer was instrumental in forming a group called Interfaith Grand River (IGR) in Waterloo Region. He foresaw the challenges arising out of the influx of people coming from the ends of the earth with varied faiths. The task is far-reaching, exacting, and rigorous. It demands harmony, which is the hallmark of how Canada, a predominantly Christian society, so generously provides space to people of varied or no faith.

Balmer brings the scene into full view with many telling stories: How after 9/11 he called the Imam of the neighbourhood mosque to enquire about his safety and well-being. The story of Hajj and the debate on Sharia is another example – all towards evolving a shared spirituality as consonant with the demands of a multi-faith society. At the end of each chapter, Balmer raises pointed questions to probe our inhibitions.

He passionately invites his readers to a globally responsible, ethical, religious synthesis as the best way to transform religion from being a force which exacerbates intolerance and creates problems, to becoming one which can solve them. As an astute analyst, Balmer constantly reminds his co-religionists to “learn about other faiths and cultures.” As a faith leader, he pleads with his community to welcome, embrace and respect other faith groups.

At the same time, Balmer leaves some questions unanswered, such as how do we bring to the table those who hold the most entrenched opinions that germinate suspicion, intolerance and hatred in our daily lives? And how can we enlarge the Interfaith Grand River experiment to include ordinary citizens?

Balmer’s plea may reach out across the nation, if faith groups join hands to work for individual freedom, justice, the eradication of poverty, dissolution of all forms of discrimination, and the protection of the environment. These are common values; and they are held strongly enough by people from different faith traditions that our shared work to actualize those values can overcome the barriers that separate us.