DIALOGUE is an exchange between two individuals or parties, or more. There are many reasons why you may choose to engage in dialogue, such as:

1. To defend your point of view on a matter;
2. To understand the other person’s view in order to relate to him;
3. To convince the other person to share your opinion;
4. To reduce tension or the potential for conflict.

For many reasons, I feel a pressing need to promote the virtue of dialogue, as the more I experience in life, the more I realise its value. When dialogue seems impossible, that is when it is most called for. My intention in this diablog is to explore and expound the principles of meaningful, effective dialogue on the subject of religion, focusing most on my own faith of Islam.

The aim is not to get deep into debates on all the issues, though that is welcome in itself. Rather, the point is to establish principles around the following areas:

1. The value of dialogue, as opposed to other approaches to life
2. Ethics and etiquettes of dialogue
3. Intellectual duties in preserving reason and truth
4. The interaction of religions, civilisations and philosophies

Are we seeking the answers? Definitely. But it would be enough of an achievement to learn how to ask the questions, and how to proceed from there. To that end, I want to gather ideas to construct a Charter for Religious Dialogue, as the culmination of the blog’s thinking process.

Another aspect I am particularly interested in is words and how they are used, misused and abused. That’s why I’ll be constructing a special Glossary page to help shine a light through the fog.

You might also like my “Wee Thoughts” over there to the right of the page, collected at Twitter and providing me a way to jot ideas while on the go. I try to make them sound profound, but like everything else, they can be challenged, even by me!