Mr Cohen, of the Wellington Progressive Jewish Congregation, was in Dunedin yesterday to give the ninth annual open Peace Lecture, which he titled "Words, Concepts, Deeds. Peace as a way of living".
The lecture series is organised by the Dunedin Abrahamic Interfaith Group and Otago Tertiary Chaplaincy.
"We are all created in God's image, regardless of religious affinity or anything else, or our nationality, or our ethnic groups - we are human beings," Mr Cohen said in an interview.
This aspect of "humanism", reflecting the underlying value of human life, was a key starting point in talking with people of other backgrounds.
Asked how he would describe a "progressive" Jewish faith, Mr Cohen said this included three elements, reflecting Jewish values: humanism, liberalism and pluralism.
Liberalism acknowledged each generation had its own understandings of Judaism, and pluralism accepted "different people believe in different ways".
Some people tended to regard their own spiritual views as "religious", and those of other groups as "superstition" - but other people also had the same approach in reverse.
Asked about "interfaith dialogue", he said religions did not not talk to each other as such.
"There's no dialogue between concepts; there's dialogue between people.
"Respect starts by trying to listen and not by waiting for your turn to reply."
He rejected totalitarian views that suggested the lives of some people could be sacrificed for the greater good.
"You can always find another path, even if it's longer."
• The first of the Dunedin annual peace lectures was given by the late former prime minister David Lange in 2004.
