SOURCE: "Swami Vivekananda: A Hindu Model for Interreligious Dialogue," in Interreligious Dialogue: Voices From a New Frontier, edited by M. Darrol Bryant and Frank Flinn, Paragon House, 1989, pp. 9-20.

In the following essay, Rambachan examines Vivekananda's ecumenical approach through his statements on Christianity and other religions.

Sectarianism, bigotry, and its horrible descendant fanaticism, have long possessed this beautiful earth. They have filled the earth with violence, drenched it often with human blood, destroyed civilizations, and sent whole nations to despair. Had it not been for these horrible demons, human society would be far more advanced than it is now. But their time is come: I fervently hope that the bell that tolled this morning in honor of this convention may be the death-knell of all fanaticism, of all persecutions with the sword or with the pen, and of all uncharitable feelings between persons wending their way to the...