The future of the world depends on peace between Muslims and Christians,” an unprecedented document released yesterday states. An open letter from 138 leading scholars from a range of Islamic sects was sent to numerous Christian leaders, including Pope Benedict xvi, the patriarch of Constantinople and the archbishop of Canterbury. The letter called for greater harmony between the two religions. The letter says that the issue is so important, “the very survival of the world itself is perhaps at stake.”
The document emphasizes the common ground that exists between Islam and Christianity. It claims that both religions are based on a belief in one God, and that one must love Him and fellow man. It also states that the Koran requires Muslims to live peacefully with Christians: “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.”
Its end is optimistic: “so let our differences not cause hatred and strife between us. Let us vie with each other only in righteousness and good works.”
After 14 centuries of these two religions conflicting with one another in a repetitive cycle of jihads and crusades, this letter from Muslim scholars comes at a time of escalating hostility between Islam and the West. Many in Europe have voiced concerns over the growing number of Muslims in Europe. Only two weeks ago, outgoing Bavarian premier and friend of Pope Benedict xvi, Edmund Stoiber, said, “When the mosques in our cities are bigger than cathedrals and churches, then we must tell our Muslim fellow citizens, ‘No, that is going too far.’ Church towers, not minarets, should be what you see when you look out across the state.”
A growing number of people both within the Catholic Church and within Islam believe that theirs is the only true religion, a tenent that has claimed scores of lives in the past and is set to take even more in the future.
Many other nations and institutions across Europe also have a history of conflict with Muslims.
Bible prophecy states that the unprecedented peace between Christians and Muslims that this letter proposes will not occur in the short term. In fact, it predicts that tensions will only get worse, culminating in all-out war. The Muslim scholars are correct in asserting that “the very survival of the world” is at stake; the Bible states that human life would be extinguished altogether in the coming conflagration if not for intervention from God.
To find out more about this coming bloody crusade and how it will unwittingly but quickly usher in a real reconciliation between those of these two religions, read The King of the South.