For the First Time, a Muslim Writes for the Pope's Newspaper

The new columnist is Khaled Fouad Allam. In surprising harmony with Benedict XVI. Both are in favor of a Christian-Islamic dialogue that is not a compromise between the faiths, but an encounter of cultures
by Sandro Magister

ROMA, December 1, 2008 – They did not see or hear from each other, and yet both of them, during the same days, argued for ideas that are surprisingly similar. On the one side was the pope, Benedict XVI, in a letter-preface to a book; on the other a Muslim thinker, Khaled Fouad Allam (in the photo), the first Muslim asked to write for the front page of the pontifical newspaper, "L'Osservatore Romano."

The proximity of thought between the two is all the more surprising in that it is manifested on incendiary terrain, the relationship between Christianity and Islam. The latest huge explosion of radical Muslim violence came a few days ago, in Mumbai.

In a letter to the author of a book recently published in Italy by Marcello Pera, a liberal philosopher and disciple of Karl Popper, Benedict XVI wrote:

"An interreligious dialogue in the strict sense of the world is not possible, as long as it is much more urgent to have an intercultural dialogue that explores the cultural consequences of the underlying religious decision." the rest

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