Please freepmail me if you want on/off this list
Eastern Catholic Ping List
Please freepmail me if you want on/off this list
Posted on 10/11/2007 7:55:52 AM PDT by NYer
More than 130 Muslim scholars have written to Pope Benedict XVI and other Christian leaders urging greater understanding between the two faiths.
The letter says that world peace could depend on improved relations between Muslims and Christians.
It identifies the principles of accepting only one god and living in peace with one's neighbours as common ground between the two religions.
It also insists that Christians and Muslims worship the same god.
The letter comes on the anniversary of an open letter issued to the Pope last year from 38 top Muslim clerics, after he made a controversial speech on Islam.
Pope Benedict sparked an uproar in September last year by quoting a medieval text which linked Islam to violence.
The letter coincides with the Eid al-Fitr celebrations to mark the end of Ramadan.
Koran and Bible
It was also sent to the Archbishop of Canterbury, the heads of the Lutheran, Methodist and Baptist churches, the Orthodox Church's Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew I and other Orthodox Patriarchs.
The letter, entitled A Common Word Between Us and You, compares passages in the Koran and the Bible, concluding that both emphasise "the primacy of total love and devotion to God", and the love of the neighbour.
With Muslims and Christians making up more than half the world's population, the letter goes on, the relationship between the two religious communities is "the most important factor in contributing to meaningful peace around the world".
"As Muslims, we say to Christians that we are not against them and that Islam is not against them - so long as they do not wage war against Muslims on account of their religion, oppress them and drive them out of their homes," the letter says.
It adds: "To those who nevertheless relish conflict and destruction for their own sake or reckon that ultimately they stand to gain through them, we say our very eternal souls are all also at stake if we fail to sincerely make every effort to make peace and come together in harmony."
One of the signatories, Dr Aref Ali Nayed, a senior adviser at the Cambridge Inter-faith Programme at Cambridge University, told the BBC that the document should be seen as a landmark.
"There are Sunnis, Shias, Ibadis and even the... Ismailian and Jaafari schools, so it's a consensus," he said.
Professor David Ford, director of the programme, said the letter was unprecedented.
"If sufficient people and groups heed this statement and act on it then the atmosphere will be changed into one in which violent extremists cannot flourish," he said in a statement.
The letter was signed by prominent Muslim leaders, politicians and academics, including the Grand Muftis of Bosnia and Hercegovina, Russia, Croatia, Kosovo and Syria, the Secretary-General of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, the former Grand Mufti of Egypt and the founder of the Ulema Organisation in Iraq.
Why, bless my bomb belt and call me Achmed....
Eastern Catholic Ping List
Please freepmail me if you want on/off this list
The letter is also addressed to the Orthodox Patriarchs, the Archbishop of Canterbury and a multitude of Protestant clergy.
Hey, moosies! Stop chopping off our heads and then we can talk.
Sounds like they’re offering Earth and Water.
Hmmmmm, this must mean that there will soon be a building boom of Churches in Saudi Arabia to match the mosque building in the western nations? No?
***Muslim scholars reach out to Pope ***
And always remember, when they pat you on the back it means they are looking for a soft spot to put a knife.
I really think this is another result of the Regensburg speech. After the intial outbursts (and probably during, but it wouldn’t get the coverage), it seems that serious Muslims opposed to violence started taking a hard look at Islam, at least enough so that a trickle of them started appearing on TV (Fox anyway) and a few articles started to appear. I think more and more that that speech was a turning point.
Hmm, no letter to Jews? I guess they’re still on the hit list. Frankly, this smells like the offer they made to Spain just after the Madrid train bombing and before Spain’s election, the old bait and switch. Not to worry, Obama and Edwards will sit down and talk.
holding stock in vasaline is the wave of the future!
Reach out? Yeah right, just like a child molestor reaches our to children....
They don’t want to “talk”. They want you to convert. Nothing less will do.
"Insisting" doesn't neccesarily make it so.
This letter should have been sent to the king of Saudi Arabia, to Al-Azhar in Egypt, to whatever authority in Pakistan, and to the mollahs of Qom in Iran.
You can find a mosque in Rome, but no church in Saudi Arabia. The mosque in Rome could proceed to maintenance works and redecoration without the prior approval of the Pope or of the Italian President. In Egypt it is hardly tolerated to restore a crumbling wall of a church. In Pakistan? tell me about it.
They always let you know a head of time and offer you the optionof converting to Islam before they bring out the black flags of Jihad. Did they also offer the Mafia principled Jizya tax to the Pope? ( You pay use so we won’t slaughter you). They have millions in cash... what a windfall...
They’re just trying a different strategy. Worldwide islamic domination is their goal. They will settle for nothing less. Ever.
Take a look here, http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1909692/posts?page=57#57, and my following posts.
One of the signatories is the former Grand Mufti of the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalment, appointed by Arafat.
He’s a blood-thirsty jihadi through and through, celebrating children blowing themselves up, and raging against Jews and America.
Did he have a road to Damascus conversion or something?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.