Yale hosts high-level Christian-Muslim dialogue

The Editor,
Gulf News
Dubai.

Dear Sir,

With reference to the report below that has been carried in your esteemed newspaper on 27 July, it's quite interesting to note that more and more inter-faith dialogues are taking place across the globe. Earlier last month, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, took the lead in bringing together scholars of different religions in the Spanish capital, Madrid, setting a good example for future dialogues among world's prominent religions. This assumes much significance especially as there is a growing tendency among people of different faiths to make a retreat unto their own faith and shut all the doors of dialogue. Events such as this will help promote mutual understanding among people about other faiths thereby spreading religious harmony and ensuring peaceful co-existence. One of the prime objectives of such gatherings should be promoting shared moral and family values that are more necessary now than ever.

Taj Aluva
Dubai
Email: tajaluva@gmail.com


U.S.A.
Yale hosts high-level Christian-Muslim dialogue
ReutersPublished: July 27, 2008, 23:49
New Haven, Connecticut: Senior Christian and Muslim scholars and leaders are meeting in the United States this week seeking common ground in their different faiths to foster better understanding between Islam and the West.
Hosted by Yale University Divinity School, the conference is the first public dialogue launched by Muslim intellectuals in the Common Word group that appealed to Christian leaders last year for discussions among theologians to promote peace.
Most US participants are Protestant theologians and church leaders, including some prominent evangelicals, but some Catholics and Jews also are taking part. The Muslims, both Sunnis and Shiites, hail from around the world.
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Their conference comes just more than a week after King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia hosted an unprecedented meeting of Muslims, Christians, Jews, Hindus and Buddhists in Madrid and pledged to pursue interfaith dialogue.
"We have broken the ice of mistrust between the West and Islam with this initiative," said Mustafa Ceric, grand mufti of Bosnia. "In world affairs today, the rule should not be the argument of force but the force of argument."
Ceric, whose homeland in former Yugoslavia was torn apart by ethnic and religious strife in the 1990s, said it was time for serious dialogue among mainstream faith leaders after years in which violence by Islamist radicals has dominated the headlines.
Growing interest
Miroslav Volf, a Yale theologian co-hosting the sessions, agreed this and other recent interfaith encounters in Europe and the Middle East pointed to a growing interest in seeking more Christian-Muslim understanding. "There's definitely something in the air," the Croatian-born Protestant said.
The Common Word project, started last October by 138 Muslim scholars, says Christianity and Islam share two common core values - love of God and love of neighbour. The group says discussions on this among experts can help defuse tensions between the faiths.
Christian leaders have responded positively to the appeal.
The Common Word group, a multinational platform for mainstream faith in a religion with no central authority, will meet Anglicans in October and Pope Benedict in November.
(www.gulfnews.com)