[Peace-discuss] Re: [Peace] The common core of Christianity, Judaism and Islam

[Ricky Baldwin]

Thanks for sharing this article, Chris.

Hopefully folks will have thoughts they'd like to discuss related to it.

I'm afraid it belongs on our discussion list, though - this list is only for meeting minutes and
announcements of upcoming events - I'll forward it on.

Ricky
--- Chris Tuck <christuck911 at gmail.com> wrote:

> The common core of Christianity, Judaism and Islam
> By John Renard
> 
> 
> 
> Below is the link to the story.
>
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/editorialcommentary/story/220DA2283E383A1C8625737C008139A0?OpenDocument
> 
> Here is the story.
> 
> Something remarkable in Muslim-Christian relations happened this month, yet
> few Americans are aware of it.
> 
> More than 130 Muslim religious scholars from more than 20 countries in the
> Middle East, Africa, Europe, Asia and North America sent an open letter to
> Pope Benedict XVI and to some two dozen other leaders of Orthodox and
> Protestant churches. Overwhelmingly conciliatory and non-polemical, the
> document (available at www.acommonword.com) lays out evidence from the
> Bible and Quran that all three Abrahamic faiths share a common focus on the
> "two great commandments": love of God and love of one's neighbor as
> oneself.
> 
> The letter is historic in many ways and marks the first anniversary of a
> letter seeking deeper understanding and reconciliation that was written by
> some three dozen Muslim scholars in the weeks following Pope Benedict XVI's
> controversial address at the University of Regensburg. No direct response
> was forthcoming from the Vatican at that time, and press coverage virtually
> disregarded the Muslim voices then, too.
> 
> This month's noteworthy development has received virtually no electronic
> media coverage and been consigned to back-page blurbs of major newspapers.
> Had it been a diatribe against Christianity and the leaders of the many
> churches, it almost certainly would have received banner coverage.
> 
> Why is it so difficult for us to hear Muslim voices for moderation and
> peace, and so easy to hear only voices calling for indiscriminate violence
> in the name of Islam? Print and electronic media coverage of events in Iraq
> and Afghanistan continues to be slanted toward spectacular violence
> apparently perpetrated by Muslims, infighting among Muslim politicians in
> the Middle East and South Asia, quests for suspected weapons of mass
> destruction and alleged pervasive plotting to undermine and overthrow
> Western civilization.
> 
> The increasing availability of cable TV programs and books that purport to
> offer the truth about Islam and Muslims reflect an American populace
> increasingly adamant in its suspicion of all things Islamic. This is hardly
> surprising, given that the purported truth — that Islam is inherently
> violent and bent on world domination and that no Muslim can be trusted —
> provides a clear, black-and-white, know-your-enemies narrative that's
> frighteningly easy to sell.
> 
> Here's the problem: That narrative is constructed, beginning to end, of
> pumped-up stereotypes, half-truths, ideological assumptions and outright
> bigotry. Supposed truth-tellers blithely toss around oversimplifications
> about a "clash of civilizations" and a "return of the Caliphate" as
> descriptors of a global state of unfolding religio-cultural conflict.
> Blended with various versions of Christian end-time scenarios, such
> expressions dovetail nicely with a growing perception that Islam and
> Muslims are the embodiment of the apocalyptic horrors foretold in biblical
> prophecies.
> 
> The problem is exacerbated by the widespread — but false — belief that
> Muslims have remained silent about the horrors visited on so many people
> here and abroad since Sept. 11, 2001. Many ask, "Where are the Muslim
> voices denouncing terrorism?" and "Why have Muslims, both here and abroad,
> given at least tacit approval to the grim work of suicide bombers?"
> 
> The straightforward, truthful answer to these questions is that Muslim
> religious leaders and ordinary citizens alike have energetically responded
> to these and other outrages, which have been the scourge of Muslims as well
> as non-Muslims. Hundreds of counter-fatwas (legal advisories issued by
> Muslim jurists) have been issued, explaining in unambiguous detail the
> Muslim abhorrence of all forms of suicide (whether rationalized as
> self-selected martyrdom or not), mass murder and the destruction of life
> and livelihood perpetrated against innocent people of every faith and
> culture.
> 
> Readers who would like to sample some of these pervasive yet un-reported
> Muslim reactions may visit www.theamericanmuslim.org (a St. Louis-based
> website).
> 
> Few Americans seem aware of all this activity, perhaps because it does not
> support the accepted narrative of Muslims as unredeemed and unredeemable
> perpetrators of violence.
> 
> Indeed, the remarkable new Muslim outreach to the leaders of Christian
> groups is being characterized by some who purport to tell the truth about
> Islam and Muslims as no more than a ruse, a smokescreen to cover their
> sinister designs. After all, how could followers of the nefarious Muhammad
> be capable of telling the truth or relenting in their mandate to conquer
> the world for their fascist faith?
> 
> It is regrettable that when it comes to being informed about Islam, most
> Americans hear only voices from the ideological extremes: non-Muslims
> espousing hatred and suspicion of Muslims, and Muslims distorting their
> tradition beyond the recognition of most of their co-religionists.
> 
> Willingness and ability to hear Muslim voices begins with the simple
> acknowledgment of our shared humanity. That openness can flourish only with
> the further affirmation that, like most other people, the vast majority of
> Muslims abhor all forms of violence and long for peace and justice.
> 
> John Renard is a professor of theological studies at
> 
> St. Louis University.
> 
> 
> 
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