Pope told 'survival of world' at stake if Muslims and Christians do not make peace
October 11, 2007
Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent of The Times
Full text of the letter

The "survival of the world" is at stake if Muslims and Christians do not make peace with each other, leaders of the Muslim world will warn the Pope and other Christian leaders today.

In an unprecedented open letter signed by 138 leading scholars from every sect of Islam, the Muslims plead with Christian leaders "to come together with us on the common essentials of our two religions" and spell out the similarities between passages of the Bible and the Koran. the rest

Ruth Gledhill's weblog:

Excerpt: "Among the first to respond was the Bishop of Rochester, Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, a leading Anglican expert on Islam. We've now incorporated some of his comments into a piece for Online. He told me that he welcomed the document, but pointed out that for all the apparent similarities of the monotheistic faiths, Christians and Muslims do not actually believe in the same thing. 'Dialogue must be in the integrity of each faith, rather than on terms set by one,' he said. 'They speak of the unity of God. Christians want to uphold the unity of God but their understanding is not the same of the Muslim one. Christians understand God as the Father the source of all existence, the Word is the one through whom the creation comes into existence and the Spirit refreshes and renews creation. What the Koran condemns, we do not believe Whatever our doctrine of God there are fundamental issues that must be addressed, such as refugees fleeing because of their faith and because of persecution.' " the rest