Two news items this week show that the time is right for figuring out why three branches of the same Abrahamic tree of faith are at each other's throats so much, and fixing that.
Scholars from Judaism, Christianity, and Islam got together and realized there was way more in common than in dispute between these faiths. They moved on to looking again at exactly why each one feels it has to be the "only" faith.
Here's the first item:
Call for Muslim-Christian Unity 'Very Encouraging', Says Vatican Interfaith Head
A top Vatican official in charge of relations with Islam said a recent letter from Muslim scholars to Pope Benedict XVI and other global Christian leaders is “very interesting” and “very encouraging.”
Sun, Oct. 14, 2007 Posted: 10:40:43 AM EST
A top Vatican official in charge of relations with Islam said a recent letter from Muslim scholars to Pope Benedict XVI and other global Christian leaders is “very interesting” and “very encouraging.”
"I would say that this represents a very encouraging sign because it shows that good will and dialogue are capable of overcoming prejudices," Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran said Friday, according to The Associated Press.
The letter, entitled “A Common Word Between Us and You,” calls for peace and understanding between Islam and Christianity, claiming that if the two communities are not at peace “the world cannot be at peace.”
“Our common future is at stake,” it added. “The very survival of the world itself is perhaps at stake.”
The document has been hailed by many as unprecedented and historic as it includes the signatures of 138 Muslim clerics, scholars and intellectuals from all branches of Islam – Sunni and Shia, Salafi and Sufi, liberal and conservative. Among the signatories were no fewer than 19 current and former grand ayatollahs and grand muftis, noted Newsweek magazine.
Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, here's the second item"
From the Los Angeles Times
Scholars try to reconcile 'problematic' religious texts
Christian, Jewish and Muslim experts met this week to add context to passages that have been perceived as hostile toward other faiths.
By K. Connie KangLos Angeles Times Staff Writer
October 20, 2007 (excerpts):
Speaking with mutual respect and sensitivity, prominent Christian, Jewish and Muslim scholars and clergy from around the country met in Los Angeles this week to "wrestle" with what one rabbi described as the "dark side" of the three faith traditions.
Experts cited "problematic" passages from the Hebrew Scripture, the New Testament and the Koran that assert the superiority of one belief system over others.
Firestone said that all monotheistic traditions are confronted with the problem of chosen-ness and that "we all need to work through this absolutely basic notion in each of our religious systems."
Rabbi Mark S. Diamond, executive vice president of the Board of Rabbis of Southern California, which co-sponsored the event with Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Conn., said all people of faith need to "take ownership of their most difficult texts, wrestle with them -- not run away from them -- but confront them, where appropriate, set them in their proper historical context.
"After wrestling, I hope people can understand these texts in the appropriate contexts and realize that not all of them, but many of them, are bound by conditions of social milieu, of culture, of historical context."
In some instances, he continued, people of faith need to say to themselves, "This is part of my sacred tradition, but I reject it. I find this text offensive. It goes against my own morality, and it goes against what I believe God expects of me in the world today."
That calls for a great deal of theological introspection, education and courage, he said.
Called "Troubling Tradition: Wrestling With Problem Passages," the program at the Luxe Hotel in Bel-Air on Monday and Tuesday was the second in a series of four international conferences initiated by the Center for Christian-Jewish Understanding of Sacred Heart University.
"We want to foster serious theological and moral thinking about those aspects of our traditions . . . that are intolerant and delegitimizes the other and have been used by extremists to foster violence and hatred," said Rabbi Eugene Korn, executive director of the Center for Christian-Jewish Understanding. "It's absolutely critical now because of the increase in religious violence and extreme hostility."
The first conference was held last year in Connecticut. There will be conferences in Germany in 2008 and Jerusalem in 2009. The papers presented at the conferences will be published as a book and posted on the Internet.
Speakers at the Los Angeles conference also included Rabbi Elliott Dorff, rector and professor of philosophy at American Jewish University, and Richard J. Mouw, president of Fuller Theological Seminary.
Conservative Christian Ann Coulter's recent comment about Jews needing to be "perfected" by converting to Christianity was mentioned only in passing.
"Panelists and presenters chose not to dignify her remarks with a response," Diamond said.
Jerry D. Campbell, president of the Claremont School of Theology, summed up the event:
"God is challenging us to take the idea of troubling texts to the next level, to begin a new conversation across faiths and throughout the world, with the goal of realizing God's own hope that all God's creation may learn to live harmoniously together."
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