Rabbi David Rosen flew to Germany last week, where he attended an executive board meeting of the International Council for Christians and Jews, of which he is President (he is also International Director of Inter-Religious Relations at the American Jewish Committee).

From Germany, he was scheduled to make his way to Switzerland for a meeting with leaders of Protestant churches around the world, and then to go on to Rome for the launch of a new fund that will promote dialogue between the three monotheistic religions through music.

Other dialogue events in which he has taken part in recent weeks were a three-religion conference held in Alexandria and an international inter-religious meeting convened by the Pope in Assisi, Italy.

Rosen's busy schedule is obvious evidence of the surging intensity of current inter-religious dialogue. Among other things, for the past two years world religious leaders have gathered for a conference that is held at the same time as the World Economic Forum.

The increase in the number of events and the status accorded them (as measured by the stature of their sponsors) indicates not only recognition of the importance of inter-religious dialogue in the face of the so-called 'war of cultures' in the Middle East and the United States. It is also an expression of the return of religion to the center of the public arena.

Back when the world dreamed that economic advances and enhanced levels of education worldwide held out hope of a cure for the ills of humanity, religion was left out of the limelight.

When these failed to achieve their goal, religion once again regained its central footing on the global stage – due both to its guarantee of rewards in the next world to compensate for the woes of this one, and the social framework that helps alleviate the suffering of this world.

The flood of events covers several different types of dialogue. In terms of Judaism, there are four significant categories: dialogue with all the world's religions; discourse among the three monotheist religions ('the religions of Abraham', as the preferred nomenclature goes), and Jewish-Christian and Jewish-Muslim dialogue.

Jewish-Christian dialogue came first, growing out of internal processes within the Christian church that resulted from guilt feelings over the Holocaust. A central milestone in this context was the year 1965, and the conclusion of the Vatican II Council convened by Pope John XXIII.

The Council declared various theological modifications in Christianity, including its attitude toward Judaism: the Roman Catholic Church was called upon to withdraw its age-old accusation that the Jews had murdered Jesus and reverse the old belief that has fed hatred of Jews over the generations – that God wishes to punish the Jews for their refusal to accept the gospel of Jesus.

These changes, says Rosen, paved the way for the opening of an intensive dialogue between the religions, primarily through a variety of bilateral organizations.

Throughout the years of dialogue, the Roman Catholic Church has periodically softened its theological dogma, and expressed its remorse for centuries of hatred of Jews. In the latest development, the Jews' anticipation of the Messiah is now deemed legitimate according to their reading of the Bible, even though it wholly contradicts Christian belief. Asked if he believed that the direct dialogue was responsible for these developments or whether they were the product of internal processes within the Church, Rosen says: "It may have happened anyway, but it would have taken much more time."

Dr. Ron Kronish, director of the Inter-religious Coordinating Council in Israel, another dialogue group, says that Christians have been complaining of late that the new developments – which the Roman Catholic Church views as nothing short of a revolution - are not being met with a parallel Jewish willingness to modify Judaism's traditional hostility to Christianity.

Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yisrael Lau, who has participated in numerous inter-religious meetings, comments: "Although there have been a few significant gestures made toward Judaism, at the same time, steps have been taken in the opposite direction, such as the intention to canonize Pius XII, the decision not to open the documents pertaining to him, and the Pope's silence in the face of the slanderous anti-Semitic statements of President Assad. All of these make it hard for us to expunge the residual tensions of the past.

"Aside from which, the relationship was never symmetrical. Jews never spread blood libels about Christians or massacred them. The [Roman Catholic] Church has to understand that it will have to take many steps toward the Jewish people before it can expect a parallel move in its direction."

All the same, in the interest of effecting a substantial shift in the attitude of the wider Jewish public, the Roman Catholic Church has been seeking to move beyond people like Rosen and Kronish, who speak for dialogue groups, not actual religious communities.

In this spirit, Cardinal Walter Kasper, the Vatican's current point man for dialogue with the Jews, recently initiated a meeting with the Chief Rabbis, at which it was agreed to set up a permanent joint committee that will discuss affairs of ongoing mutual concern to the two religions.

"The trend of inter-religious conferences was set in motion by an inter-religious conference for peace that was convened in Assisi by the Pope," Rosen said.

The growing trend of inter-religious conferences has not only attracted the interest of religious organizations but also the United Nations, which lent its patronage to the establishment of the World Conference For Religious Peace.

The largest inter-religious organization in the world, it tries to use religion as a means of resolving conflicts around the globe. The president of the organization is Prince Hassan of Jordan.

In the past, the conference made efforts to hold encounters between rival groups in Bosnia, Kosovo, and Sierra Leone. Now, in the wake of last month's Alexandria Summit, it intends to put its weight and its prestige behind an effort to promote religious dialogue in the Middle East.

Rosen believes that multi-religious discourse has paved the way for tri-religious discourse. This has become very popular in recent years, especially under the patronage of European countries, which are very much interested in a dialogue that would bring Judaism, Christianity, and Islam closer together.

"Somewhat paradoxically, it was actually the tri-religious discourse that paved the way for the encounter between Judaism and Islam, through a Christian mediator. This, in spite of the fact that the Jewish-Islamic relationship was always much better than the relationship with Christianity," Rosen says.Yair Sheleg is a journalist at Ha'aretz. Distributed by Common Ground News Service.