• A Call to All the Earth
• Leonard Swidler

The Parliament of the World’s Religions at its November, 2018, gathering in Toronto added a Fifth Principle to its “Declaration toward a Global Ethic,” making explicit the universal commitment of all peoples to cherish and foster the earthly environment within which we all live. Although this principle was already implicit in the 1993 Declaration by the Parliament of World’s Religions, it was rightly felt vital that today it be made explicit. It is now everywhere “in the air”—healthy or not! Although this declaration calls upon all persons, it is especially directed toward religious persons. Besides all the political and private initiatives urging the fostering of the Earth where we all live, doubtless the most significant religious voice in this direction was that of Pope Francis and his encyclical on the environment, Laudato si’.¹

Francis in this encyclical issued a charter document for all peoples of the world, including not only Christians and those of all other religions but also humanists, agnostics, and atheists—of wisdom, vision, challenge with a richness of scientific acumen and human sagacity, pointing the way for us to follow in engaging in deep interreligious, intercultural learning, dialogue, and action about our one home of all, Mother Earth. We are all connected, and we all must care for everyone, especially the poor and marginalized.

Francis’s circular letter (in Greek, “encyclical”) is meant to encircle the whole Earth and everyone on it. In a way, like his namesake, St. Francis of Assisi, he was also addressing not only us humans but also all the animals, as well as Sister Water and Brother Wind. In the midst of its abundance of [End Page 599] sage wisdom, deep philosophical insight, and manifold knowledge about scientific matters, I find two main themes running throughout the entirety of Laudato si: the fundamental need for multiple and constant dialogue, and that everybody and everything is connected. From the very beginning of his time as pope, Francis spoke of dialogue. For example, he said to the youth of Latin America that, if there is a problem, “Dialogue, dialogue, dialogue!” In the 40,000+ words of Laudato si’, Francis used the term “dialogue” twenty-five times. Already at the very beginning of this document, he wrote, “I would like to enter into dialogue with all people about our common home” (no. 3).

This is a very important sentence, for in it he signals that he is not going to simply state information and give marching orders but wants to engage in a dialogue; that is, in this text he listened to the laid-out scientific facts as carefully and critically as he could and invited his readers to do the same with him—and then both speak to the facts and with each other. Furthermore, he wanted to have this dialogue not just with the 1,320,000,000 Catholics in the world but with “all the people.” He wanted this dialogue to be “about our common home.” In other words, he wished to launch a dialogue that is as broad and deep as possible, yet he strove to go even further, writing, “I urgently appeal, then, for a new dialogue about how we are shaping the future of our planet. We need a conversation which includes everyone” (no. 14).

What is this dialogue that Francis makes so much of here and elsewhere, and why should it be considered so necessary? Simply put, dialogue means that “I want to talk with you who think differently from me so I can learn.” While it sounds simple, until very recently, when we met someone who thought differently from us, we either dismissed them as mistaken or, if we deemed the matter sufficiently important, proceeded to persuade them— with varying degrees of insistence—that they were wrong, and we were right. In matters deemed important, most often the “other side” was equally convinced that they were right, and we were wrong. The usual result of such ubiquitous encounters was that neither side learned anything new but simply reinforced their prior convictions.

However, dialogue, especially in important matters, is increasingly being seen as a necessity...

• 
  向全地球发出召唤
•  伦纳德·斯威德勒

2018 年 11 月，世界宗教议会在多伦多召开，在其《全球伦理宣言》中添加了第五项原则，明确了各国人民对珍惜和培育我们赖以生存的地球环境的普遍承诺。尽管这一原则已经隐含在 1993 年世界宗教议会宣言中，但今天明确这一原则是至关重要的。现在它“在空气中”无处不在——无论健康与否！尽管这一宣言呼吁所有人，但它特别针对宗教人士。除了所有敦促培育我们共同生活的地球的政治和私人倡议之外，毫无疑问，在这个方向上最重要的宗教声音是教皇方济各和他关于环境的通谕《愿你受赞颂》。 ¹

方济各在这部通谕中为世界各国人民发布了一份宪章文件，不仅包括基督徒和所有其他宗教的人民，还包括人文主义者、不可知论者和无神论者——智慧、远见、挑战以及丰富的科学敏锐度和人类智慧，为我们围绕我们共同的家园——地球母亲进行深入的跨宗教、跨文化学习、对话和行动指明了道路。我们都是相互联系的，我们都必须关心每个人，特别是穷人和边缘化群体。

方济各的通函（希腊语“通谕”）意在包围整个地球和地球上的每个人。在某种程度上，就像他的同名者阿西西的圣弗朗西斯一样，他不仅向我们人类讲话，而且向所有动物讲话，以及水姐妹和风兄弟。在其丰富的[完第599页]圣人智慧、深刻的哲学洞察力和有关科学问题的多种知识中，我发现贯穿整部《愿你受赞颂》的两个主题：对多重和持续对话的基本需要，以及每个人、每件事都是相互关联的。从担任教皇之初，方济各就谈到了对话。例如，他对拉丁美洲的年轻人说，如果出现问题，“对话，对话，对话！”在四万多字的《愿你受赞颂》中，方济各使用了“对话”一词二十五次。在这份文件的一开始，他就写道：“我想与所有人就我们共同的家园进行对话”（第 3 条）。

这是非常重要的一句话，因为他在这句话中表明，他不会简单地陈述信息、下达行军命令，而是要进行对话；也就是说，在这篇文章中，他尽可能仔细地、批判性地聆听所阐述的科学事实，并邀请他的读者与他一起做同样的事情——然后双方就事实进行对话。此外，他不仅希望与世界上13.2亿天主教徒进行对话，而且还希望与“所有人”进行对话。他希望这次对话是“关于我们共同的家园”。换句话说，他希望发起一场尽可能广泛和深入的对话，但他努力走得更远，写道：“那么，我迫切呼吁就我们如何塑造地球的未来进行新的对话。我们需要一场所有人都参与的对话”（第 14 条）。

方济各在这里和其他地方如此重视的对话是什么？为什么它被认为如此必要？简单地说，对话就是“我想和那些和我想法不同的人交谈，这样我可以学习”。虽然这听起来很简单，但直到最近，当我们遇到与我们想法不同的人时，我们要么认为他们是错误的，要么认为他们是错误的，或者如果我们认为这件事足够重要，就会以不同程度的坚持说服他们，他们是错误的，我们是对的。在重要的事情上，“另一方”通常同样相信他们是对的，而我们是错的。这种无处不在的遭遇的通常结果是双方都没有学到任何新东西，而只是强化了他们先前的信念。

然而，对话，特别是在重要问题上，越来越被视为必要......