I have just read what I think to be the most insidious document ever written. It’s called the Common Word Between Us and You. This 2007 “open letter” to Christendom was composed by a consortium of Muslim clerics and scholars. Endorsed by religious academics at the Yale Center for Faith and Culture as well as over 300 Christian theologians and evangelicals, its contrived premise is reminiscent of rainbows, a cure for cancer, an end to world hunger, and tranquility across the planet.
There’s an ancient Greek word for the mind-set reflected in the Muslim document. It can be spelled “bologna” or “boloney.”
I understand where Mary Ready is coming from and I think she is quite right that some/certain Christians and some/certain Muslims take exception to the "Common Word" document. These people have an absolutist, black and white vision of religion truth is a zero sum game.
Thank God (yes - the one God who created us all) we have people willing to work together to develop a basis for peaceful coexistence. They are the folks Ms. Ready seems to think are the bad guys in all of this "Common Word" business.
The day after tomorrow - 8/16 - I will attend the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago (CIOGC) annual Ramadan Interfaith Iftar. It's a great event and it gives my spirit a real lift to see people of different faiths coming together.
I've been to enough of these events and have spoken to enough people at these interfaith dinners to know that none of the folks I've encountered were looking to create a "Chrislam" of which Ms. Ready speaks.
I appreciate that there are many blogs who will exaggerate or blow things out of proportion but upon some further investigation there does seem to be something to comment on. This article seems to at least explain both religions and the problems surrounding a combined religion like Chrislam. See here http://www.squidoo.com/chrislam
Posted by: Widemouth | August 19, 2011 at 06:29 PM