As a result of recently reading The Tenth Gift by Jane Johnson, I continue to reflect on the similarities and differences of religions, including Islam and Christianity.
Too often, people conflict over differences of belief. Yet, at heart, we are all quite similar. Christians are angered by and fear the jihad, the Muslim holy war, and yet Muslims are reacting to the atrocities waged against them by the Christians - the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition and the forcing out of all Moors from Spain in the name of Christianity. Christians call Muslims "infidels," and Muslims call Christians "infidels." It's all so crazy.
Christians, Muslims, and Jews believe in the same God, Allah, Yahweh, Who, in great love, created all of humanity and accepts all people from these differing paths. Could it be that God provided these different paths knowing that people find God in different ways?
The Catholic Church believes that "the Church's bond with non-Christian religions is in the first place the common origin and end of the human race:
All nations form but one community. This is so because all stem from the one stock which God created to people the entire earth, and also because all share a common destiny, namely God. His providence, evident goodness, and saving designs extend to all against the day when the elect are gathered together in the holy city...(Nostra Aetate, Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions, 1)." (CCC, 842)
So what can we do to close the gap of misunderstanding?
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Pray for peace and knowledge and understanding and wisdom.
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Learn about other cultures and religions. Read books, including the Bible and the Qu'ran.
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Participate in seminars and events to learn about other cultures and religions and to get to know people of differing points of view.
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Listen with openness and respect to differing points of view.
