Ethics: Responsibility and justice

Introduction

Christianity and Islam exist and function within diverse socio-political contexts, and they each profess a universal ethic of human values. The fourth meeting of the Christian-Muslim Theological Forum, held in 2008, explored the subject of ethics in the two faith traditions under the theme “Responsibility for Life” (Schmid et al. 2009). “Life” is understood here in a wide sense. The Forum’s approach was premised on the view that

to make ethics the topic of Christian-Muslim conversation is a complex undertaking since it must require initially an adequate degree of situational, or contextual, awareness, followed by a review of the respective traditions, methods and ways of decision-making, in order ultimately to discern ways of implementing joint ethical decisions and actions

(Schmid and Mutlu 2009, 11)

This statement and approach effectively signalled a shift in the methodological dynamic of the Forum to include the possibility of a joint applied outcome to the dialogue: the dialogue of discourse is augmented by the dialogue of action. Nevertheless, discourse remained predominant. Sub-topics included identifying anthropological and theological bases for ethical responsibility and the application of ethics in partnerships, family life, government and politics, economic actions, and the field of biomedicine. The Forum also addressed issues of ethical differences, variations in ethical motivations, the context of secularity and non-theological ethical perspectives, and Christian and Islamic responsibility within a general social context.

The fourth Building Bridges Seminar, held in 2005 in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, was hosted jointly by Catholic, Orthodox, and Muslim institutions. The undergirding theme was an ethical one: the “Common Good” in the context of faith and national identity (Ipgrave 2008). The fifth Seminar, in 2006, was held at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, and it also addressed an ethical theme: “Justice and Rights” (Ipgrave 2009). Topics included divine justice as found in scripture; the development of traditions of interpretation and application within both religions with a focus on political authority; and contemporary issues of rights and religious freedom. In this chapter, by quarrying the output of these three dialogue events, the theme of ethics will be explored by way of several key areas of discussion. These include the foundations of ethics and justice; religion and society; ethics and social justice; issues of justice, rights, and freedom. While these broad divisions seem to encapsulate much of the field as addressed by the three dialogue events, the Theological Forum included some additional dimensions that space does not permit inclusion here.