Closing Remarks

Virginia Benson

T

HANK you, Dr. Peter Laurence, for so deftly summarizing two ofthe key points from today’s dialogue. In that same spirit, I’d like tooffer two points as well.
I would first like to say that this day has been a fitting celebration of
the special space that has been created here—an open space for different
religious traditions to come together in dialogue. Dr. Victor Kanzanjian’s own stance of warmth and welcome has set the tone.
I remember when the Education as Transformation project waslaunched ten years ago. It was an unusually warm, sunny day in late
September, and there was a big tent set up outdoors on the Wellesley
campus. Hundreds of educators were there from all over the country.
The proceedings were suffused with a joyful atmosphere of change,
inspired by the vision of education and spirituality that Victor put forward to the crowd. The Boston Research Center and our colleagues atSoka University of America had been invited by Victor to participate;
and we, too, were caught up in the excitement.
We had been attracted to the Education as Transformation project, inpart, because of the Bodhisattva ethic implicit in the endeavor—that is,the commitment to working for the happiness of self and others. In theyears preceding the project’s launch, Victor had worked tirelessly to create an interfaith center to serve the spiritual needs of the Wellesley College community. He wanted to create the conditions for religious life toflourish in a pluralistic environment. Though deeply rooted in his own
Christian tradition, he envisioned an open spiritual atmosphere in which
Christianity did not dominate. The ethic of embracing religious diversitythat he embodied in his work was really inspiring for us. His expansive
vision was equally impressive. He was working with Peter to create
something that would go beyond the Wellesley campus and encourage
dialogue on religious pluralism and spirituality on campuses across theUnited States.
So, it’s a real joy for me to come back here today and see the Education as Transformation movement thriving and for you to have created83

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CLOSING REMARKS

this wonderful new Center. Thank you, Victor, for involving the Boston
Research Center and the Institute of Oriental Philosophy in today’s celebration.
Secondly, I’d like to say something about the idea of humanizing religion. When Dr. Kawada offered opening remarks this morning, he mentioned that SGI President Daisaku Ikeda writes a peace proposal everyyear and submits it to the United Nations. His most recent proposal isentitled “Humanizing Religion, Creating Peace.” As I listened to thepresentations throughout the day, one particular passage kept comingback to me. In it, Dr. Ikeda suggested three criteria for holding religions
to account for their actual impact on human beings: 1) Does this religious tradition make people stronger or does it weaken them? 2) Does it
encourage what is good or what is evil in them? 3) Are they made morewise—or less?
These very simple, yet profound, questions come from the humanheart. They are a powerful challenge to the fundamentalist tendencies
that can lurk within any tradition. Continuously asking these questions
is a good way to immunize our traditions against the forces of dogmatism and fanaticism that so often take over, especially among the upperechelons of a tradition. Then, tragically, religious leaders end up distorting what’s good in that tradition and using human beings for their own
purposes, making them subservient to the aims of the religious organization itself.
Today, several of the presentations focused on the polarization thatexists within traditions, describing a gap between a progressive side
that’s open to interfaith dialogue and a fundamentalist side that isn’t. It
seems to me that we could use these down-to-earth, practical questions
in working within our own traditions to help bring the sides together insupport of the human being.
After all, any religion that’s worthy of being called a religion ought tobe most concerned about the quality of life of its practitioners. Are they
improving, becoming stronger, better and wiser people because of theirpractice of the teaching? Perhaps such questions could help stake out
important common ground between the two sides of a tradition. Stale
doctrinal debates could recede into the background when attention turns
to the daily lives of the practitioners.
Coming up with a set of human-centered questions like the ones Dr.
Ikeda proposed would not only help open up possibilities for new, fresh
discussions within traditions. Such practical concerns about the day-today impact of religion on the lives of human beings could inspire evengreater interest in the kind of interfaith dialogue that focuses not on doc-CLOSING REMARKS

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trinal debate but on human happiness and peace. These outcomes are,after all, the great hope that religion, when practiced well, offers theworld.
Thank you, everyone, for your participation today!