Hong Kong Cardinal John Tong Hon Dialogue and respectful understanding are the prerequisites for social harmony and world peace, Hong Kong Cardinal John Tong Hon told a symposium on Christianity and China.
“If we see only our own reasons and insist on our own experience as the norm, thereby denying the basis of other people’s experience, then disagreement, quarrels and even wars will be inevitable” between individuals, communities, nations and religions, he said.
“As a result, our zeal for pursuing the truth will, ironically, become a chasm separating us,” he said in his address.
The cardinal and others spoke at a symposium on ‘Christianity in the Chinese Society: Impact, Interaction and Inculturation’, hosted by Rome’s Pontifical Gregorian University.
In his talk, Cardinal Tong said: “dialogue is an indispensable feature of our world.”
“While affirming our own experience, we must acknowledge and respect the rationality of others’ experience. This is a prerequisite for social harmony and world peace,” he said.
Christianity and Chinese society are the two largest groups in the world, he said “each with its own profound culture and historic traditions