On October 13, 2007, 138 Muslim scholars, clerics and intellectuals signed "A Common Word Between Us and You," an appeal for peace between Muslims, Christians and Jews. The letter quotes from the Qu'ran and the Bible to emphasize the similarities between the two, and concludes by pleading for differences to be set aside, to live in peace, harmony and mutual goodwill.
Among the people who responded, the Archbishop of Canterbury, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Pope Benedict XVI and a number of Christian and Jewish scholars and organizations welcomed the message set out by the letter, and reiterated its point that religion is not to be used for hatred. Many also said that religion should not be a reason for the East and the West to misunderstand each other.
The Yale Divinity School's response, "Loving God and Neighbor Together", was published as a full-page ad in the New York Times on November 18.
Critical Reaction
A number of conservative commentators criticized the letter. One such criticism, put out by the Barnabus Fund has several criticisms of the letter, but its final criticism is that the letter is not a search for common ground, but rather part of a wider attempt to "islamise [sic] Christianity."
Barnabus, without presenting excerpts, goes on to say that Islamizing Christianity means Islam will accept the Christian values of love for God and neighbor if Christianity rejects the trinity and the divinity of Christ (called in the letter the "deity of Christ").
Well Actually...
This analysis is actually representative of a fundamental misunderstanding between East and West which, if not corrected, could fulfill Rudyard Kipling's awful declaration that "never the twain shall meet."
The East, not just Islam, but all religions in the east, Hinduism, Buddhism, and so on, believe that there is one God, and that all beings who pray pray to the one God whether they think that or not. Hindus believe that there is one God present in all things, and that Krishna, Brahma, Padma, etc. are reflections of the true God, and that we are reflections of it.
Likewise, Islam believes that there is one true God, and that is the same God that saw Moses, Abraham, Issac, Jacob and Jesus as his prophets. Many of the stories in the Bible are retold in the Qu'ran (there are variations, but they are still the same stories).
In the West, on the other hand, the belief is that if one believes things different from one's own beliefs, if one performs rituals different than ones own rituals, if one has morals different from ones own, he/she must be worshipping another God. For the longest time, Catholics believed Protestants believed a different God than their own, Methodists believed that Presbyterians believed a different God than their own, and Baptist Church of God members believed that Baptist Church of the Savior members believed a different God than their own.
Even today, the words "Catholic God", "Muslim God", "Protestant God" are thrown out by people who disparage others because they are not of their particular denomination.
But today, more and more people are coming to terms with all this and recognizing that all Christians worship the same God, regardless of their differences. Likewise, almost all Christians believe that Christians and Jews worship the same God.
So why not recognize that Christians, Jews and Muslims pray to the same God?
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