Muslims Tell Christians: 'Make Peace With Us Or Survival Of World Is At Stake'
Prominent Muslim scholars are warning that the "survival of the world" is at stake if Muslims and Christians do not make peace with each other.
In an unprecedented open letter signed by 138 leading Muslim scholars from every sect of Islam, the Muslims plead with Christian leaders "to come together with us on the common essentials of our two religions."
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, and Pope Benedict are believed to have been sent copies of the document which calls for greater understanding between the two faiths.
The letter also spells out the similarities between passages of the Bible and the Koran.
The Muslim scholars state: "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 phrasing has similarities to the New Testament passage: "He that is not with me is against me" - a passage used by President George Bush when addressing a joint session of Congress nine days after 9/11.
The Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought, a non-governmental organisation based in Amman, Jordan, has organised the letter.
The Institute said: "This historic letter is intended by its 138 signatories as an open invitation to Christians to unite with Muslims over the most essential aspects of their respective faiths - the principles of love of one God and love of the neighbour.
"It is hoped that the recognition of this common ground will provide the followers of both faiths with a shared understanding that will serve to defuse tensions around the world."
It continues: "Finding common ground between Muslims and Christians is not simply a matter for polite ecumenical dialogue between selected religious leaders.
"Together they (Muslims and Christians) make up more than 55 per cent of the population, making the relationship between these two religious communities the most important factor in contributing to meaningful peace around the world. If Muslims and Christians are not at peace, the world cannot be at peace."
Among those launching the letter in the UK will be David Ford, Regius Professor of Divinity, and Fellow of Selwyn College, University of Cambridge and founding director of the Cambridge Inter-Faith Programme.
Aref Ali Nayed, a leading theologian and senior adviser to the Inter-Faith Programme, will also take part at the event in central London.
Story Here
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Uh......I think it's the other way around!
In an unprecedented open letter signed by 138 leading Muslim scholars from every sect of Islam, the Muslims plead with Christian leaders "to come together with us on the common essentials of our two religions."
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, and Pope Benedict are believed to have been sent copies of the document which calls for greater understanding between the two faiths.
The letter also spells out the similarities between passages of the Bible and the Koran.
The Muslim scholars state: "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 phrasing has similarities to the New Testament passage: "He that is not with me is against me" - a passage used by President George Bush when addressing a joint session of Congress nine days after 9/11.
The Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought, a non-governmental organisation based in Amman, Jordan, has organised the letter.
The Institute said: "This historic letter is intended by its 138 signatories as an open invitation to Christians to unite with Muslims over the most essential aspects of their respective faiths - the principles of love of one God and love of the neighbour.
"It is hoped that the recognition of this common ground will provide the followers of both faiths with a shared understanding that will serve to defuse tensions around the world."
It continues: "Finding common ground between Muslims and Christians is not simply a matter for polite ecumenical dialogue between selected religious leaders.
"Together they (Muslims and Christians) make up more than 55 per cent of the population, making the relationship between these two religious communities the most important factor in contributing to meaningful peace around the world. If Muslims and Christians are not at peace, the world cannot be at peace."
Among those launching the letter in the UK will be David Ford, Regius Professor of Divinity, and Fellow of Selwyn College, University of Cambridge and founding director of the Cambridge Inter-Faith Programme.
Aref Ali Nayed, a leading theologian and senior adviser to the Inter-Faith Programme, will also take part at the event in central London.
Story Here
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Uh......I think it's the other way around!
Labels: Radical Islam
posted by Marie's Two Cents | 10:13 AM
17 Comments:
dont u just love the veiled threats Marie..NOT!..great work girl!
Oh for sure Angel,
I am getting quite sick of the threats from Radical Islam.
Marie,
Amy Proctor has a different take on this; and I'm inclined to agree with her. I encourage everyone to go through her post and take the time to read the comments page. Much of the comments are similar to your views, disagreeing with Amy (and myself).
I think the debate is healthy and important.
You know Marie, I truly would like for the Muslims to lower their swords against us. If they did there could be peace. What they really want is to dominate all others and eradicate all religions other than Islam. Islam is spread by the sword and by the sword it must be stopped.
Word,
I think debate is healthy also, but why must we make peace with them?
They are the ones who declared war on us!
I read Amy's comments and she seems to have a whole host of different comments going on there.
Now mind you I have NO problem with Peaceful Islam, just those who have hijacked the Muslim Religion and turned it into something vile. And the only ones who could possibly set things straight are the Cleric's and they refuse to take a stand!
I dont understand why the Cleric's wont speak out and set the record straight and maybe we ALL could have some kind of dialoge AFTER they do that.
But being told "We must submit" or the world will cave in, I have a problem with that.
Jenn,
Isnt that what Usama said years ago?
Why dont the cleric's take a darn stand? What are they affraid of?
I think debate is healthy also, but why must we make peace with them?
I dunno....maybe we're bigger than they are?
They are the ones who declared war on us!
Who? The 138 Muslim leaders did? Really?! When did they do that? I don't even know who these 138 are, and what their past statements and opinions have been.
I read Amy's comments and she seems to have a whole host of different comments going on there.
Yes...it's exactly what I told you. That the bulk is dissenting viewpoints, similar to yours.
Most of them miss the point, in that post, and in previous posts I've seen on the topic.
Now mind you I have NO problem with Peaceful Islam, just those who have hijacked the Muslim Religion and turned it into something vile.
Are these 138 not trying to represent "peaceful" Islam?
And the only ones who could possibly set things straight are the Cleric's and they refuse to take a stand!
But, Marie...these 138 Muslim leaders are taking that stand!
And I've seen Muslim leaders who condemn terrorism, condemn al-Qaeda, and yet we are deaf to it, instead paying more attention to the 10's of thousands of Muslims rioting in the streets over Danish cartoons, rather than to the millions who stayed at home.
And as for such incidents, so long as they do not turn their displeasure into acts of violence, I don't really care, to the same degree that I care about the Islamist radicals who threaten and plot death to America. I know a good many of them were chanting such slogans against those responsible for the cartoons; but others were also peacefully protesting in the same spirit as our own leftwing moonbats.
A lot of people are anti-American. Not just Islamists. Not just terrorists. But it those who turn their anti-Americanism into violent expression that I am most concerned about.
I dont understand why the Cleric's wont speak out and set the record straight and maybe we ALL could have some kind of dialoge AFTER they do that.
In Amy's post, I quoted one such leader in my comment.
There are those sheiks and imams who are slain, because they don't support the radical fundamentalists. You know this.
But being told "We must submit" or the world will cave in, I have a problem with that.
Is that what the letter says? Again, I agree with Amy's interpretation of the substance and well-intentions behind the letter.
Word,
I see your point.
Re-Reading the entire story again and some of Amy's comment's I am beginning to understand what they meant.
At first it sounds like a threat!
But when you think twice about it those 138 are denouncing "Radical Islam"!
I wish they would hold a news conference or something telling what they really think about Radical Islam.
Make thier voices heard louder than a letter, ya know what I mean? Becuase no one but some of us paid any attention to the story.
I was a-thinkin' the same thing, Marie! Happiness (and peace) is a warm gun, I believe the Beatles once said!
Marie,
Thanks for bothering to "rethink/re-examine" the issue.
You and I both know how frustrating the mainstream media is, and their deciding which stories get pushed to the frontpage, and which gets buried.
Thanks to everyone who was willing to ponder this difficult subject further.
One of the things that makes it so difficult is that we, particularly Christians, lump all Muslims together. We think reconciliation means 1)appeasement or 2) condonment of their theology. It means neither. What it really means is that our children may have a chance of not being involved in the same war we're engaging in today.
My husband met many good Muslims in Iraq who were very devout and peaceful. It is mostly the uneducated and unemployed young Muslims who are wooed by the thrill of a supposed purpose proposed by al-Qaeda types. They are not the embodiement of their religion, however.
If you read the entire open letter you'll see this is a sincere effort to bridge the gap between the faiths. It doesn't mean we have to validate each other's theology, but that we can accept that we are both religions who want to live in the world together without bloodshed. St. Paul urged Christians to live peaceably among ALL men, not just those who theologically align with us.
On another note, here's something I learned from my husband: MUSLIMS RESPECT YOU MORE IF YOU STAND UP FOR YOUR RELIGION THAN IF YOU HAVE A PC VERSION OF YOUR RELIGION. In Iraq last year, a chaplain went to meet with an Imam, and rather than risking offending the Imam, the chaplain took off his cross before entering his home. In essense, he hid his religion. When the Imam questioned the chaplain about the missing cross, it was clear that this was a huge mistake and that the chaplain had blown a major opportunity to meet with an equal: a religious scholar. The Imam asked point blank: "Where is your cross? Are you trying to trick me?"
The message to the Imam was that the chaplain was sneaky and plotting something cinister because clearly he wasn't being who he proported to be in the Army. Why esle would he HIDE his religious symbols? Our version of separation of Church and state is killing us on the battle field.
A Muslim would rather you be 100% committed to and proud of our faith than to worry about our dedication to it offending a Muslim. They see it as cowardice and weakness. They are correct.
Essentially, there is no doubt in my mind that these Muslim scholars are sincerely reaching out to the Christian community. Pope Benedict is notorious for meeting with Muslim leaders, praying in Mosques and synoguges, and doing so jointly with those respective religions. Muslim leaders respect this.
So why make peace with Muslims? Because we want to win the war. At least I do. My husband does. We have been given a gift in that Muslims are extending a hand of friendship.... this is truly a great opportunity for us to stop talking about world peace and to work towards world peace.
Finally, I posted an entry last night that I hope all your readers will check out. 3 videos with the Army and GEN Petraeus saying the same thing Wordsmith and I have been saying here. Please do yourself a favor and view the videos. It will really help everyone to clarify their own understanding of what is transpiring in the war on terror.
:)
Word and Amy,
I certainly wasnt trying to bunch all Muslims together. At least I didnt mean it to come off that way.
When my son was on the Iraq/Kuwait border he met many Muslims too and liked them very much.
I have a friend as well in Iraq/Kurdistan (Amy I think you and I discussed this before) and he and his family are very sweet, loving people.
I guess the biggest problem I have is that the Cleric's, Imam's, etc.. if they cant get thier message across through the MSM, why cant they hit up all the Radical Islamic websites and post thier letter there?
If these Clerics, Imams can get thier message out to the radicals, they may be able to sway the radical element to thier way of thinking and get them to lay down thier swords.
I certainly wasnt trying to bunch all Muslims together. At least I didnt mean it to come off that way.
Marie, I didn't get the impression that you were. But I do get that impression from some of the "hard-right" angry conservatives out there, who have such a huge knee-jerk reaction against anything remotely coming across as "PC/Islam is the religion of peace/multiculturalism/Muslim apologist/appeasement/enabling", that they now have another kind of blindness, that is the antithesis of the PC-blindness we have been railing against for the last 6 years, engrossing ourselves in the important work of Robert Spencer and all those "politically incorrect guides" that warn us of the dangers of Islam/radical Islam.
Now, we need to take a step back, reevaluate, and not become what we hate: so jaded that we are intolerant and bigoted, unable to distinguish anymore, the real enemy; but thinking we know the real enemy.
Amy,
That's an interesting story about the chaplain and imam.
I encourage everyone to check out Amy's post that she mentioned.
why cant they hit up all the Radical Islamic websites and post thier letter there?
If these Clerics, Imams can get thier message out to the radicals, they may be able to sway the radical element to thier way of thinking and get them to lay down thier swords.
Marie,
I think many of these radicals do hear the message of the peaceful Muslims, and subsequently, end up killing them as "apostates". They find validation in their interpretation of Islam, through the writings of such influential activists as Qutb (another writer's name escapes me), who have excused the killing of fellow Muslims who do not endorse their radical ideology of fundamentalist Islam.
As Amy indicates, many of these Muslim youths have a void in their lives, which is filled with the hateful, exciting ideology of such terror groups as al-Qaeda. The propaganda of martyrdom is enticing. The peaceful Muslims have a hard time competing against that, when they are being slaughtered and silenced.
Fortunately, al-Qaeda has taken their mission too far, and are experiencing a backlash throughout the Muslim world. Their popularity is on the decline, for the very fact that they themselves are responsible for the deaths of so many Muslims, among other things.
Word,
You have certainly given me some food for thought :-)
I do care deeply about the Muslim people (Except Radical Islam) or I wouldnt be so hell bent on winning this war so the Iraqi people can be free, and we can declare Victory. Which if you read all the reply-alls lol you will see what I'm talking about.
I had a tooth pulled a few days ago and I guess it was infected and now the infection has spread throught my body, so I had to go back and now am on antibiotics, and I am quite pissy.
That's why I havent been able to get to anyones blogs in the last few days. I feel like crap.
Hopefully by tommorrow I will be better and ready to hit everybody with my 2 cents :-)
Don't worry about; there's really nothing going on to report about. So, just feel better.
Word,
Yeah!!!!!!
I bet it's probably 20 stories down there by now lol
Glad Curt did that story :-)
I dont know what Anonymous has going on down here but I'm not clicking on it!
Ok Wordsmith...I'm here. I may or may not get to Amy's - takes forever to load her page. (past experience)
I'll consider this letter as truly representing a desire for peace when I see them begin to treat Christians decently in their own countries. Do you know what the jizya is? it's commanded by Sharia. Are these 138 offering to discuss the possiblity of changing Sharia law? or proposing that muslim countries become secular so that Sharia law doesn't apply to non-muslims as well as muslims? In truth, as I said on Flopping Aces, I don't believe their offer of peace. A muslim is required to offer the opportunity of conversion three times. If the conversion is rejected, he'll kill you. How can these representatives of islam reject the koran? they believe in the koran as the word of God, dictated to mohammed. They lived in peace with the western world for centuries because they were defeated at the Gates of Vienna - on 9/11, by the way. If they win now - by whatever means - the story of the future will be different.
There are only two ways islam will accept "peace" - if islam reigns supreme throughout the world, or by offering "hudna" which means "peace till I'm strong enough to attack again".
Why is this "peace" offering being made _now_? What's happening? You said:
"I think debate is healthy also, but why must we make peace with them?"
>I dunno....maybe we're bigger than they are?>
So why do they come to us with an offer of peace? Because they're losing? or winning...?
Look at these numbers:
http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/Pages/TheList.htm
Marie's right - they have declared war on us - and the rest of the world. We will _not_ win them over by negotiation...as with Amy's chaplain's example, we will only win by demanding their respect. You may be right that these "leaders" are honestly wanting peace, but if they are, then I have to question whether they are "leaders" in islam or just a small group who are trying to change their religion.
And for that, I don't have an answer.
SPAM WILL BE DELETED!!!
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