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Dale_M
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According to the article, only one Catholic parish is participating in this interdenominational project.
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sedonaman
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Seems like there is always one in every crowd. Sometimes I think the Church carries ecumenism to fault…it is instructive and sobering to consider a case study of a well-known American seminary, to see how sharply different ideas about Christian outreach and dialogue with Islam have played out over time.
Hartford Seminary in Connecticut, one of America’s oldest theological schools, was founded in 1834 by Calvinists who left Yale College to found a new institution of Christian learning. In the early decades of the twentieth century Hartford was a leading institution in the evangelization of Muslims.
…in 1973, Hartford created the Duncan Black Macdonald Center for the Study of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations. Its mission is to nurture Christian-Muslim understanding. In 1998, the center hired Ingrid Mattson, a Canadian-born convert to Islam with a doctorate in Islamic studies from the University of Chicago, to direct the chaplaincy program. Mattson is also the first female president of the Islamic Society of North America. In 2000 an Islamic chaplaincy program was launched at Hartford to train Muslims for chaplaincy roles in the American military. The number of students taking the Islamic chaplaincy training has steadily increased since then.
Today, Muslims make up 35 percent of the student body at Hartford Seminary, an institution which a few generations ago was training Christians to evangelize Muslims.
The case of Hartford Seminary shows how the laudable desire to understand Islam and Muslims has brought a Calvinist foundation with a strong missionary emphasis to the point of using its resources to train and equip Muslims to strengthen other Muslims in their faith.
Barnabas Fund Response to the Yale Center for Faith and Culture Statement: (“Loving God and Neighbor Together”…)
January 24, 2008
barnabasfund.org/news/archives/text.php?ID_news_items=381
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GraceSofia
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“A few mosques” have signed up? They didn’t mention any by name. I’ll believe it when it happens.
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GratefulFred
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As I read it, the CNS article was not precise. I did not get the clear sense that a Rabbi and or an Iman would be preaching his faith during Mass. Or even in the Church proper where Mass is prayed.
So I presume the dialouge - a discussion - presentations and questions will occur in a meeting room. IF my presumption is correct - again the article was not clear, I am reading into it - then I have no problem.
Humans fear the unknown. We must make efforts to understand one another. We must make efforts to understand the good in each other. God made us all. God has a purpose for each one of us.
In my 9 years overseas in 20 countries, I learned that we are more alike than not. Yes, all are different, to some degree, but we are more alike than not.
We should remember that extremists are extreme and do represent the typical or even the ideal. Wanting to be loyal to my faith, I may not so willingly to crticize extremists in my faith as others outside my faith are willing.
Wisdom seeks undertanding. Better undertanding does NOT automatically lead to conversion. Just I grew in understanding and appreciation of other countries, I did not feel to need to give up my citizenship to take up theirs.
So I presume the dialouge - a discussion - presentations and questions will occur in a meeting room. IF my presumption is correct - again the article was not clear, I am reading into it - then I have no problem.
Humans fear the unknown. We must make efforts to understand one another. We must make efforts to understand the good in each other. God made us all. God has a purpose for each one of us.
In my 9 years overseas in 20 countries, I learned that we are more alike than not. Yes, all are different, to some degree, but we are more alike than not.
We should remember that extremists are extreme and do represent the typical or even the ideal. Wanting to be loyal to my faith, I may not so willingly to crticize extremists in my faith as others outside my faith are willing.
Wisdom seeks undertanding. Better undertanding does NOT automatically lead to conversion. Just I grew in understanding and appreciation of other countries, I did not feel to need to give up my citizenship to take up theirs.
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janman55
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Muslims deny the divinity of Jesus Christ, among other problems. While there are some things we agree on, the core issues we are diametrically opposed. This type of formal “dialogue” sounds really good but is pointless. I’m all for dialogue but giving them a venue is not healthy.
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sedonaman
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I agree. There was one of these inter-faith dialog groups once that ended up as an embarrassment for the Christian and Jewish clerics. The imam knew much more about the Bible than the Christian and Jewish clerics knew about the Koran. They came prepared to argue the case for Christianity, but fell woefully short when it came to pointing out the errors in Islam. The imam was able to run circles around them.
I suspect that the Muslims put forth their very best, while the Christians and Jews settled for whoever they could get. What is needed is for someone like Pope Benedict to debate the imams.
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_Abyssinia
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What Catholic Priests have been invited to preach the Bible at Mosques?
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GratefulFred
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To hold one’s own position in a debate against the local Imam should not require A theologian of Pope Benedict XVI’s ability.
Basic debate preparation requires research of both sides of an issue so that reasoned retorts can be expressed.
WHY should we follow Christ? WHY should we not follow Islam? To show understanding and empathy, we should be able to say what is acceptable about Islam and then gently, but clearly, express where we think Islam goes astray.
Knowledge of Islam is not hidden. Thoughtful critiques of Islam are readily available. The Christain cleric should have been better prepared.
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Not_Sure_1
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This is a horrible idea
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sedonaman
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Didn’t you know that you had to be able to read Arabic, because, “Learning Arabic will be an advantage as there is a big difference between reading the translations of the Qur’an and the original text in Arabic.” ?
Didn’t you know that, “They have been taken out of context.” ?
Close, but not exactly my point. You don’t send in a Pop Warner team to go up against Green Bay.
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GraceSofia
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But is it supposed to be a dialogue or a debate?
faithshared.org/aboutus.html a link to a page from the Faithshared.org web site.
I have serious reservations from looking at this. It seems to be all about “anti-Muslim bigotry in our recent public discourse.”
I don’t know. I read a lot more hateful comments aimed at the Catholic Church or Christians in general than at Muslims in the U.S. I was shaken to read the most hateful comments on a MSM article about the recently-beatified German priest who died in a Nazi death-camp.
Looks like a one-way deal. I only see Christian churches listed as participating-- no mosques. I guess it is only Christians who must learn to respect other religions. It is okay for Muslims to continue to ban Bibles, churches and Christianity from Saudi Arabia, for Nigerians, Pakistanis and Egyptians to burn churches and kill Christians, etc. Yeah, all the hundreds of mosques being burnt in the U.S. is a very worrying problem.
The way forward is for Muslim-majority countries to have Bibles in their libraries, to have freedom of worship, freedom of conversion, to teach comparative religion courses in their universities, to teach their people that Christians are human beings worthy of respect, too.
faithshared.org/aboutus.html a link to a page from the Faithshared.org web site.
I have serious reservations from looking at this. It seems to be all about “anti-Muslim bigotry in our recent public discourse.”
I don’t know. I read a lot more hateful comments aimed at the Catholic Church or Christians in general than at Muslims in the U.S. I was shaken to read the most hateful comments on a MSM article about the recently-beatified German priest who died in a Nazi death-camp.
Looks like a one-way deal. I only see Christian churches listed as participating-- no mosques. I guess it is only Christians who must learn to respect other religions. It is okay for Muslims to continue to ban Bibles, churches and Christianity from Saudi Arabia, for Nigerians, Pakistanis and Egyptians to burn churches and kill Christians, etc. Yeah, all the hundreds of mosques being burnt in the U.S. is a very worrying problem.
The way forward is for Muslim-majority countries to have Bibles in their libraries, to have freedom of worship, freedom of conversion, to teach comparative religion courses in their universities, to teach their people that Christians are human beings worthy of respect, too.
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Rich_Olszewski
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The same denial of Christ’s divinity holds true for the Jews, but an effort among the three faiths to see each other as human and not as monsters can be for the good.
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