Dialogue, as the term is used today to characterize encounters between persons and groups with different religions or ideologies, is something quite new under the sun. When different religions or ideologies met in the past, the main purpose was to overcome an opponent, because each was completely convinced that it alone knew the secret of human life.

In recent times sincerely convinced persons of different religions and ideologies have slowly come to the conviction that they did not hold such a secret entirely unto themselves, that in fact they had something very important to learn from each other. As a consequence they approached their encounters with other religions and ideologies not primarily in the teaching mode but the learning mode--seeking together to find more of the meaning of life. That is dialogue."

from "Islam and the Trialogue of Abrahamic Religions"
by Dr. Leonard Swidler of the Global Institute

No more than "community" can "dialogue" be precisely defined. Rather it has to be described, experienced and developed as a life-style.... Now and then it happens that out of our talking and our relationships arises a deeper encounter, an opening up, in more than intellectual terms, of each to the concerns of the other...which reaches across differences of faith, ideology and culture, even where the partners in dialogue do not agree on important central aspects of human life. Dialogue can be recognized as a welcome way of obedience to the commandment of the Decalogue: "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour". Dialogue helps us not to disfigure the image of our neighbours of different faiths and ideologies. It has been the experience of many Christians that this dialogue is indeed possible on the basis of a mutual trust and a respect for the integrity of each participant's identity."

From "Guidelines on Dialogue with People of Living Faiths and Ideologies" published by the World Council of Churches of Christ, 1979.