ABSTRACT
Christianity shares a religious identity with numerous other religions, including paganism, Taoism, Baha’i, Rastafarianism, Hinduism and Buddhism as well as the monotheistic faiths of Islam and Judaism. Following 9/11, Western governments have been concerned to constrain fundamentalists who ferment violence and to support faith groups as ‘social capital’, that contributes to peaceful communities, bonded by common purpose and grounded in ethical virtues. As such the Church finds itself undertaking mission in competition with alternative beliefs and belief systems in which their relative value seems to be based upon how far they serve the individual and society. This is not a comfortable situation for the classical Christian agapist who rejects the utilitarian ethic and seeks to promote good as an end in itself. But the Church, as the ‘body of Christ’ in the world is also concerned with justice and peace as a means to well being and so it has a strong interest in working with other faith groups to promote understanding and develop a common response to finding security against violence and terror.
