Muslim 'peace' letter spurs little Christian action
Last week’s unprecedented Muslim letter calling for peace and understanding between Islam and Christianity may have been historical, but has thus far failed to inspire any major Christian action.
by Michelle Vu, Christian Today Correspondent
Posted: Saturday, October 20, 2007, 7:57 (BST)
Last week’s unprecedented Muslim letter calling for peace and understanding between Islam and Christianity may have been historical, but has thus far failed to inspire any major Christian action.
Top Christian leaders across denominational lines – from the Anglican Communion’s Archbishop Rowan Williams to the Roman Catholic Church’s Pope Benedict XVI to the World Council of Churches’ the Rev. Dr. Samuel Kobia – were quick to welcome the letter signed by some 140 Muslim leaders.
However, after the initial attention and response, not much was otherwise heard from the Christian representatives.
The World Council of Churches, which represents some 590 million Christians, has no public action planned for the time being, its communications officer told Christian Today Wednesday.
“Our colleagues in inter-religious relations will continue working in Muslim-Christian dialogue and relations as it has been the case in the past with the only difference that the insights of the letter, which deserves further study and consideration, will be dealt with within that framework,” said WCC media relations officer Juan Michel.
Meanwhile, the Evangelical Alliance said it intends to follow up on a preliminary meeting it had with the Muslim Council of Britain six months ago. The Evangelical Alliance’s general director, Joel Edwards, and its executive director of public affairs, David Muir, also plan to hold meetings with other faith groups.
“A key part of how I see our role developing is to build very strong and meaningful relationships with other faiths, particularly with Muslims, in the months and years ahead,” Edwards said.
Last week, 138 Muslim clerics, scholars and intellectuals from all the major sects signed a letter calling for peace between Muslims and Christians. The letter entitled, “A Common Word Between Us and You,” urged followers of the two faiths to find “common ground” and not simply just for “polite ecumenical dialogue” between certain religious leaders.
“If Muslims and Christians are not at peace, the world cannot be at peace,” stated the letter. “With the terrible weaponry of the modern world, with Muslims and Christians intertwined everywhere as never before, no side can unilaterally win a conflict between more than half of the world’s inhabitants.
“Our common future is at stake,” the letter added. “The very survival of the world itself is perhaps at stake.”
Signers represent the Sunni, Shia, Ibadis, Ismailian and Jaafari branches of Islam.
In response, the World Evangelical Alliance – which represents some 420 million evangelical Christians worldwide – said it will ask its Religious Liberty Commission and Theological Commission to develop an internal process that will guide the community in responding to the request from the Muslim scholars.
“I will also discuss with leaders of various Christian communions about the potential of a collaborative response from the Christian community,” said the Rev. Dr. Geoff Tunniciffe, WEA’s International Director and CEO, to Christian Today.
The Lutheran World Federation also welcomed the Muslim letter and said further study and consideration was necessary.
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The comments below are readers' personal opinions and are in no way intended to reflect the editorial opinion of Christian Today.
Added: Saturday, October 27, 2007, 21:39 (BST)
..the responses here are very discouraging.. but only because they testify to our grievous lack of compassion.. we all live in this broken world. if we have engaged it at all, we all know how it feels to be distrusted and mocked because our faith has become synonymous with bigotry and self-righteousness; Islam, just like Christianity, has been deeply misrepresented. whither has gone our humility, our hunger for peace, our daring to see our fellow man as he truly is - the brokenhearted beloved of God Himself..?
I wonder how it hurts the One we so love when we look down our noses at the lost sheep He so desperately longs for..? Let us never ever forget how very lost we were when He found us..
ashley, a penn student, philadelphia
Added: Monday, October 22, 2007, 22:12 (BST)
This is not a call for peace, but rather an attempt to proselytize through lies and deceit. In the Islamic Holy book the Quran, Muhammed stated that Christians and Jews have corrupted the Bible. Much of the Quran statements about peace between the people actually means peace between Muslims, not between Muslims and nonmuslims. The Quran states that Muslims have the right to make war against nonmuslims until they have accepted their offer to convert to Islam. The letter is a fraud and a call to convert to Islam. I wonder what is going to happen next.
Marie, USA
Added: Sunday, October 21, 2007, 18:40 (BST)
When christians can build churches in the heart of muslim nations like Saudi Arabia, without fear of them being burned down or christians killed for preaching Christ then we can talk, untill then, all I see is two faced muslim leaders. they want peace, while they are free to build and worship in the west. BUT Christians will never be free in muslims nations to preach Christ or muslims themself to be free to leave Islam and become christian.
Bryan Matheson, Toronto Ont
Added: Sunday, October 21, 2007, 15:48 (BST)
I am shocked that a few groups of "so named" christian organizations can think they stand for me is untolerable at least. I have worked in the Gulf for the past 8-years, and I would say Islam needs to make peace within prior to atempting to open dialogs with any christian sects.
Since I am a member of the Church of God, I follow the biblical food laws, Saturday Sabbath, and the Commandments and Statutes of God, and most of the listed organizations saying they represent me do not do as God and Jesus has commanded, so if Islam was to make peace with these, it wouldn't be with any real christians that the bible instructs, and they can say what they desire of me, but at least the Muslims follow some of the laws where modern or mainstream christianity is living a lie and deceiving mankind. It is all history, proven, and confirmed, try to challenge a catholic bishop on their history and watch them scramble for help.
As I said, these organizations do not represent me, and I will make my peace with God, and his son, Jesus, the rest is up-coming history as written in the book. Read it, you might learn a new level and not be deceived by all theses phonies. Islam is well documented in the bible revelation, so their is no peace deal to attempt to lie about, it is all written in a pre-history book called the bible, and translations have some corruptions, but the original texts are accurate as inspired by God, so don't be deceived by everything you read or hear, but by the direct word of God, if you are true, and have been called, then the truth will be in your actions and followings to his word. It a wacky world out there, so somebody must tell some truth to stop Satans deceptions!
Randy G. Hook, Lakebay, WA
Added: Saturday, October 20, 2007, 19:42 (BST)
My reaction to this Moslem letter is one of deep suspiciion and skepticism. When American Christian terrorists bomb an abortion clinic it would appear that the people who support their actions measure in the hundreds (at most); when Moslem terrorists flew aircraft into buildings in 2001, opinion polls in Moslem countries all the way from Morocco to Indonesia showed support in the hundreds of millions.
If that is a "religion of peace" I would hate to see what they call war! After Sept 11, so-called moderate Moslem leaders put on a big show of embracing President Bush and spouting off about peace. However, it was eventually revealed that several of them had close ties with terrorist groups such as Hezbollah and even raised money for them.
Boy, if they are moderates, I would hate to see the radicals (but I guess that I -- and the rest of the world -- did in New York, Washington, Madrid and London). Frankly, the radicals and the so-called "moderates" that support and fund them a one way trip to jail.
Andrew Rugg, Tacoma, WA, USA
