crossreligious

Crossreligious is a term used to describe activities, relationships, or perspectives that involve more than one religious tradition and aim to foster dialogue, understanding, and cooperation across faith boundaries. It encompasses interfaith dialogue, comparative religion education, and collaborative social action, as well as attempts at pluralistic or syncretic religious expression.

In practice, crossreligious work includes forums for conversation among religious communities, joint humanitarian projects, educational programs that present multiple faith perspectives, and public events that recognize shared concerns such as peace, justice, and ethical responsibility. It is not limited to conversation alone but often seeks concrete cooperation, such as charitable initiatives, disaster relief, or community service that brings adherents of different traditions together.

Historically, organized crossreligious engagement grew in the modern era alongside broader movements for religious tolerance and social pluralism. Notable milestones include global interfaith gatherings and the development of interfaith councils and networks that coordinate dialogue and action across communities. The Parliament of the World's Religions, first convened in 1993, is frequently cited as a landmark example of crossreligious collaboration on a global scale.

Benefits commonly attributed to crossreligious engagement include greater mutual respect, reduction of misunderstandings, and collaborative problem-solving on shared ethical issues. Critics, however, caution about superficial dialogue, potential relativism, or tensions between preserving doctrinal integrity and shared action.

Related topics include interfaith dialogue, religious pluralism, and ecumenism.