Muslim, Christian Leaders Exchange Peace

We have all during our lifetimes seen how easily religious differences can be exploited as an excuse for war. Sometimes it takes as little as different interpretations of the Christian message to provide reason for carnage. In the present time a divisive atmosphere between Christianity and Islam is giving opportunity to absolutists on each side. Recently, 138 Muslim scholars authored a conciliatory message addressed to Christians worldwide. A group of Christian leaders has now responded in the same spirit of reconciliation.

Some Christian leaders, especially conservatives but not all conservatives, have denounced this effort. Thankfully, the signatories to the Christian response includes such prominent Evangelicals as Rick Warren, Bill Hybels, David Neff of Christianity Today, and the President and Vice-President of the National Association of Evangelicals.

Part of the “Christian Response” is quoted below, along with a link to the entire statement and a list of signatories.

Loving God and Neighbor Together: A Christian Response to “A Common word Between Us and You
In the name of the Infinitely Good God whom we should love with all our Being

Preamble
As members of the worldwide Christian community, we were deeply encouraged and challenged by the recent historic open letter signed by 138 leading Muslim scholars, clerics, and intellectuals from around the world. A Common Word Between Us and You identifies some core common ground between Christianity and Islam which lies at the heart of our respective faiths as well as at the heart of the most ancient Abrahamic faith, Judaism. Jesus Christ’s call to love God and neighbor was rooted in the divine revelation to the people of Israel embodied in the Torah (Deuteronomy 6:5; Leviticus 19:18). We receive the open letter as a Muslim hand of conviviality and cooperation extended to Christians worldwide. In this response we extend our own Christian hand in return, so that together with all other human beings we may live in peace and justice as we seek to love God and our neighbors.

Religious Peace—World Peace
“Muslims and Christians together make up well over half of the world’s population. Without peace and justice between these two religious communities, there can be no meaningful peace in the world.” We share the sentiment of the Muslim signatories expressed in these opening lines of their open letter. Peaceful relations between Muslims and Christians stand as one of the central challenges of this century, and perhaps of the whole present epoch. Though tensions, conflicts, and even wars in which Christians and Muslims stand against each other are not primarily religious in character, they possess an undeniable religious dimension. If we can achieve religious peace between these two religious communities, peace in the world will clearly be easier to attain. It is therefore no exaggeration to say, as you have in A Common Word Between Us and You, that “the future of the world depends on peace between Muslims and Christians.”

http://www.yale.edu/faith/abou-commonword.htm