…is the opening phrase of many jokes.
Do religious leaders of different faiths commonly socialize? Are any religions opposed to their leaders having friends from other religions?
This won’t answer your question but I find it amusing that religious leaders enjoy telling the members of their congregation that they have a “friend” from some other denomination. It’s a bit like a white guy saying, “I have this black friend…”, as if that makes him more cosmopolitan or something. :rolleyes:
Our community regularly has Christian ecumenical services where at least priests and ministers would meet up. I seem to remember a service during Chrismakuh that may have featured priests, ministers and rabbis but I’m not positive.
I knew of a protestant pastor and a rabbi who were good friends. They both were people who loved to argue, so that’s what they did-- they’d get together for coffee and argue. It never got angry or personal and neither harbored illusions of converting the other. They just loved to debate the merits of their faiths.
I am not religious at all, but I love the philosphy of The God Squad; a/k/a Rabbi Marc Gellman and Monsignor Tom Hartman.
A priest, a minister and a rabbi walk into a bar…
and the bartender says “what is this, some kind of joke?”
The local Ministerial Association consists of religious leaders from all walks. So, yeah, they do meet at least monthly around here.
I used to be co-chair of the Education Committee of my church at one point in my life. We reularly brought in speakers from other faiths and other churches – always somebody we knew.
A rabbi and a Catholic priest are enjoying a bottle of wine together, as is their regular habit. After a few glasses, the rabbi tells his friend about how, when he was a younger man, sampled some ham. “It was surprisingly tasty,” he said.
Hearing the rabbi admit to this indiscretion, the priest felt he should do likewise, and recalled how, shortly before entering the priesthood, he had carnal knowledge of a woman.
The rabbi smiled and said, “It’s better than ham, isn’t it?”
Well, my old (Catholic) pastor and a local rabbi were both fitness buffs- they socialized and worked out together all the time. The rabbi occasionally gave talks at our church.