Christian and Muslim leaders met this past week to launch the National Muslim-Christian Initiative in North America aimed at facilitating greater understanding between the two religious communities.
The initiative was sparked by concerns from both Christians and Muslims over misrepresentations of Islam and stereotypes of Muslims in North America. It was also encouraged by an unprecedented letter last year from 138 Muslim scholars, clerics and intellectuals around the world addressed to Christians.
The letter, entitled “A Common Word Between Use and You,” emphasized that Muslims and Christians make up over half the world’s population and therefore true peace cannot occur if conflict persists between the two religious communities. Muslim signers urged the two faiths to find “common ground” and to not be satisfied with just “polite ecumenical dialogue” between some religious leaders.
Christians responded to the Muslim letter by issuing their own letter signed by nearly 300 top Christian leaders, also urging for interfaith dialogue that would build relations and reshape the Christian and Islam communities. The Vatican responded by announcing it will hold a “historic” meeting with Muslim leaders this spring...
*complete story at The Christian Post