I've just come across an article in the National Catholic Reporter about the situation in the Middle East where Christians of all denominations are being expelled. We have sights of people leaving their homes with absolutely nothing.The full article can be read at http://ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/how-can-we-rescue-christians-middle-east. I thought this excerpt was relevant and important and indicates how important Muslim-Christian relations are for peace - as are Muslim - Jewish relations for peace in Israel/Palestine.
'The fate of Middle East Christians can no longer remain the province of protest and advocacy. The religious liberty lobby needs to organize in a more constructive, more consultative way to meet this "existential threat." Rescuing Middle Eastern Christianity has to have the same priority that the defense of Jews has had for the last 60 years. Indeed, it requires higher status now, because for Middle Eastern Christians, the hour of communal and cultural destruction is at hand.
The great unknown piece in an alternate Christian future is Christian-Muslim relations. The Council of Catholic Patriarchs of the East and other official groups premised the continued Christian presence in the region on coexistence and conviviality in the Arab-Muslim world. Except for a couple of pockets like Jordan and Lebanon, that future no longer seems viable. Reimagining Christian-Muslim relations must be part of any collective reassessment of the future of Middle Eastern Christianity.
Response to the Islamic State's extremism and the future of Christian-Muslim relations should also be on the agenda of moderate Muslims, like the authors of the 2007 letter "A Common Word Between Us and You," who still believe in dialogue and a shared future with the Christian world.
A new initiative on the part of Muslim scholars, as difficult as it might be to organize under current circumstances, would be most welcome. Ideally, it would reject religious intolerance, affirm Muslim-Christian ties and the place of Christians in the Middle East, and uphold the common values that sustain conviviality between the faithful of the two traditions.'
'The fate of Middle East Christians can no longer remain the province of protest and advocacy. The religious liberty lobby needs to organize in a more constructive, more consultative way to meet this "existential threat." Rescuing Middle Eastern Christianity has to have the same priority that the defense of Jews has had for the last 60 years. Indeed, it requires higher status now, because for Middle Eastern Christians, the hour of communal and cultural destruction is at hand.
The great unknown piece in an alternate Christian future is Christian-Muslim relations. The Council of Catholic Patriarchs of the East and other official groups premised the continued Christian presence in the region on coexistence and conviviality in the Arab-Muslim world. Except for a couple of pockets like Jordan and Lebanon, that future no longer seems viable. Reimagining Christian-Muslim relations must be part of any collective reassessment of the future of Middle Eastern Christianity.
Response to the Islamic State's extremism and the future of Christian-Muslim relations should also be on the agenda of moderate Muslims, like the authors of the 2007 letter "A Common Word Between Us and You," who still believe in dialogue and a shared future with the Christian world.
A new initiative on the part of Muslim scholars, as difficult as it might be to organize under current circumstances, would be most welcome. Ideally, it would reject religious intolerance, affirm Muslim-Christian ties and the place of Christians in the Middle East, and uphold the common values that sustain conviviality between the faithful of the two traditions.'
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