Unless religions are honest with each other about their blind spots and imperfections, interreligious efforts will falter," stressed Rabbi David Wolpe at an interfaith conference on "Finding Common Ground: Reconciliation Among the Children of Abraham."

The noted author and lecturer, who serves as the rabbi of Sinai Temple in Los Angeles, said if faiths are not forthright in their efforts to reach out and understand each other, there's no point in interreligious dialogue.

"Admitting the imperfections in all of our own traditions is a painful but necessary part of interreligious discourse," Rabbi Wolpe declared during his keynote address on "Why Faith Matters" at the Nov. 2 conference sponsored by the Diane and Guilford Glazer Institute for Jewish Studies at Pepperdine University in Malibu.

"Our inability to admit our shame because someone will see it is at least as destructive as all the other manifestations of religious indifference. Because you have to be able to say where you're wrong. Otherwise, there is no point in interreligious dialogue. You have to be able to say what you learned from other traditions that you don't have in yours.