Long since you heard some good news? (Christianity and Islam)

Now, I'm not one to often make threads, but I felt this really deserves one for itself.

It seems we can see the first piece of big, good news concerning muslim-christian relationship in, what shall we say, years? Decades? More?

A letter has been sent to the Pope of the Catholic Church and 27 other of the most high-ranking christian leaders in the world. It talks about the similarities between Islam and Christianity, the common values, and the need for peace between the two religions that encompose more than half the world's population. And it's signed by 138 muslim leaders, scholars, politicians and more. One of the most impressive aspects is the broad spectrum of the signers.

I realise some of you might not view this as good news.

I see this as a small chance for great opportunities. Maybe it will fade away and be forgotten, and maybe it will spark change. Anyways, I am impressed with the writers and signers for making this, and it gave me some hope.

I have not yet read the whole, 26-page letter, but I intend to, shortly.

BBC article
The letter, in pdf

Not a suprise taht there are similarities, both religions worship the same God, Jesus is an important figure in both the Koran and the Bible.(In Islam, Jesus is viewed as a prophet, instead of the messiah, at least thats what I've heard).

Originally Posted by Mike87

Not a suprise taht there are similarities, both religions worship the same God, Jesus is an important figure in both the Koran and the Bible.(In Islam, Jesus is viewed as a prophet, instead of the messiah, at least thats what I've heard).

It's not a surprise that they're similar, it's a surprise that they're co-operating.

Fantastic. Maybe if the Islamic community now religiously contacts Protestants, they can call for peace as well. :XD

In all seriousness, this is great, but the Christians who I think are actually waging the cultural war are the ones who need the letter. Catholicism's not as "inquisitive" as it used to be, if you catch my drift. All types of Christianity need to learn how to make peace with a religion that many believers seem to believe is totally made up of the few extremists that attacked on 9/11.

But, hey, Catholicism's big, and if it's co-operating with Islam, then it's united with Islam. That says a lot more than the constantly dividing groups of Christianity who can't even stay in the same church without building another one because they have a different idea of things instead of keeping to themselves.

Not saying that any type of Christianity is inferior to the others, though. I can't impose that idea because I don't belong to that group (and I definitely don't think any of the churches are flawless) but I'm encouraging unity.

Don't be offended when I say I'm more interested in seeing the religious co-operation of Sunnis and Shiites.

Make a thread when that happens, and I'll squeal like a pig.

The letter is actually addressed to many leaders from the Catholic Church, the Orthodox Church, and many of the largest Protestant Churches.

Is there a list of names for the 27 others this letter was sent to?