Dialogue between Christians and Muslims is a “vital necessity”, says Pope "'As an example of brotherly respect with which Christians and Muslims can work together,' [the Pope] said, 'I'd like to quote a few words Pope Gregory VII addressed in 1076 to a Muslim prince in North Africa who had been benevolent towards Christians under his rule. Pope Gregory VII spoke of the special charity Christians and Muslims owed each other because 'we believe and confess one God, albeit in different ways. Every day we praise Him and venerate Him as Creator of the centuries and ruler of this world (PL 148, 451).'"
Asia Times, 11.28.06
Church-Islam dialogue: the path starts from Regensburg’s Pope "Benedict XVI’s speech at Regensburg received a lot of criticism but it in fact launched an effective model for Islamo-Christian dialogue: refusal of violence, love of truth, interpretation, mission. The only way to go beyond the trivially tolerant appearance of dialogue promoted by many Muslims and by a good part of the Catholic Church...Benedict XVI seems to suggest to Muslims: we must read the text in its context; and this is fundamental for beginning an Islamo-Christian dialogue. We must reread the sacred texts to see "the circumstances of revelation" In this, the Pope is resuming the healthy tradition of interpretation which was alive in the 9th century. Unfortunately, this no longer occurs in contemporary Islam."
Asia News
Reflections of a British Muslim Extremist “British activist Ed Husain was seduced, at the age of 16, by revolutionary Islamist ideals that flourished at the heart of educated British culture. Yet he later shrank back from radicalism after coming close to a murder and watching people he loved become suicide bombers. He dug deeper into Islamic spirituality, and now offers a fresh and daring perspective on the way forward.” Speaking of Faith
“Before the headscarf affair, I was fanatically loyal to my school, extremely fond of Sister Rose, and popular with my friends – ‘the class pet,’ some called me. I had looked up to Sister Rose and empathized with her religiosity. I thought of her tears as she sang a hymn at the nativity play, and I thought of my own tears as I listened to a hamd (an Urdu hymn). With Sister's rejection of my religiosity came an enormous distancing. It pushed me away from my friends and my social circle. I felt like my trust in everything had been broken. Sister had broken me, and I would not be broken like that again… It didn't have to be that way, I often think today… "
