by BRUCE NOLAN, The Times Picayune — 29 October 2010
NEW ORLEANS — Shortly after tucking away a dinner of spaghetti and meatballs, about 60 Christians and Jews sat together in a Baptist fellowship hall this week and studied each others’ sacred texts. Jews, many for the first time, heard Jesus’ parable of the Prodigal Son, while Christians heard a roughly parallel second-century rabbinic text involving another penitent son who asked a wealthy father: "How can I have the effrontery to return?" What did the stories mean? How does one community’s stories sound to others hearing it for the first time? What’s jarring? What’s common? Over an hour, members of St. Charles Avenue Baptist Church and Temple Sinai, as well as guests, batte
GILROY — Members of three particular faith communities—Muslim, Christian and Jewish—united to feed some of Gilroy's most needy residents. Partnering with St. Joseph's Family Center, the diverse group of faithful served the evening meal at the Lord's Table behind the gymnasium at St. Mary's Catholic Parish. This blend of volunteers was called together by Abrahamic Alliance International, whose goal is to
TEL AVIV — It may sound like start of joke, but it's true. Hundreds of Catholics, Jews, and Muslims participated Sunday in a marathon between Bethlehem and Jerusalem that kicked off Pope John Paul II's sporting events, being held for the seventh year. For the first time since the second intifada in 2000, the Israeli runners were allowed to enter Bethlehem in order to join the rest of the contestants on their run after
LONDON — British imams must do more to condemn terrorism without any "ifs or buts" and should pronounce suicide bombers as "unbelievers" who are destined for hell, a leading Islamic scholar declared yesterday. The comments were made during a remarkable assault on the ideology of violent Islamist extremists by Pakistani-born Sheikh Tahir ul-Qadri, a prominent theologian who launched a seminal fatwa in London yesterday condemning terrorism in all its forms. The
by MUQTEDAR KHAN, Middle East Online — 28 December 2009
LONDON — Muslims and Christians together constitute over fifty percent of the world and if they lived in peace, we will be half way to world peace. One small step that we can take towards fostering Muslim-Christian harmony is to tell and retell positive stories and abstain from mutual demonization. In this article I propose to remind both Muslims and Christians about a promise that Prophet Muhammed (pbuh) made to Christians. The knowledge of this promise can have enormous impact on Muslim conduct towards Christians. Muslims generally respect the precedent of their Prophet and try to practice it in their lives. In 628 AD, a delegation from
by LAURIE GOODSTEIN, New York Times — 23 November 2009
NASHVILLE — It sounds like the start of a joke: a rabbi, a minister and a Muslim sheik walk into a restaurant. But there they were, Rabbi Ted Falcon, the Rev. Don Mackenzie and Sheik Jamal Rahman, walking into an Indian restaurant, and afterward a Presbyterian church. The sanctuary was full of 250 people who came to hear them talk about how they had wrestled with their religious differences and emerged as
WASHINGTON — Defying some of his fellow conservative Christian critics, one of the most prominent religious leaders in the country told several thousand American Muslims on Saturday that "the two largest faiths on the planet" must work together to combat stereotypes and solve global problems. "Some problems are so big you have to team tackle them," evangelical megachurch pastor Rick Warren addressed the annual convention of the Islamic Society of North America. Warren said Muslims and Christians should be partners in working to end what he calls "the five global giants" of war, poverty, corruption, disease and illiteracy. Warren, founder of Saddleback Community Church in
by BRAD A. GREENBERG, Jewish Journal — 11 March 2009
LOS ANGELES — Reuven Firestone is both rabbi and renowned Islamic scholar. A professor of medieval Jewish and Islamic studies at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion and senior fellow at USC’s Center for Religion and Civic Culture, Firestone’s interfaith work is not focused on reaching political common ground but on understanding shared religious experiences. Last week, in promoting his book, “An Introduction to Islam for Jews” (Jewish Publication Society, 2008), Firestone spoke at the Jewish Community Library about Islam as a world religion, Muslim views on non-Muslims and whether Muslims and Jews will be able to live in peace in Israel. The Journal caught up with him afterward. Jewish Journal: What is the No. 1 thing that Jews don’t understand about Islam? Reuven Firestone:
MADRID — Clerics representing the majority of Spain's one million Muslims have issued what they say is the world's first fatwa against Osama bin Laden. The edict by the Islamic Commission of Spain, which represents about 70 per cent of the approximately 300 mosques in the country, called bin Laden an apostate and asks Muslims to denounce him. The fatwa came on the eve of Friday's one-year anniversary of the Madrid train bombings that killed 191 people and injured 1,400. The commission's secretary general, Mansur Escudero, said the group had consulted with Muslim leaders in other countries, including Morocco, Algeria and Libya, and had their support. "They agree," Escudero said. "What I want is that they say so publicly." The fatwa said that "the terrorist acts of Osama
DOHA - A conference on Muslim-Christian Dialogue opened Thursday in Qatar with an official call to broaden the forum to include Judaism. Qatari Prime Sheikh Abdullah bin Khalifa al-Thani set the stage for two days of inter-faith talks by drawing parallels between those who believe in the oneness of God.
NASHVILLE — It sounds like the start of a joke: a rabbi, a minister and a Muslim sheik walk into a restaurant. But there they were, Rabbi Ted Falcon, the Rev. Don Mackenzie and Sheik Jamal Rahman, walking into an Indian restaurant, and afterward a Presbyterian church. The sanctuary was full of 250 people who came to hear them talk about how they had wrestled with their religious differences and emerged as 
WASHINGTON — Defying some of his fellow conservative Christian critics, one of the most prominent religious leaders in the country told several thousand American Muslims on Saturday that "the two largest faiths on the planet" must work together to combat stereotypes and solve global problems. "Some problems are so big you have to team tackle them," evangelical megachurch pastor Rick Warren addressed the annual convention of the Islamic Society of North America. Warren said Muslims and Christians should be partners in working to end what he calls "the five global giants" of war, poverty, corruption, disease and illiteracy. Warren, founder of Saddleback Community Church in 
LOS ANGELES — Reuven Firestone is both rabbi and renowned Islamic scholar. A professor of medieval Jewish and Islamic studies at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion and senior fellow at USC’s Center for Religion and Civic Culture, Firestone’s interfaith work is not focused on reaching political common ground but on understanding shared religious experiences. Last week, in promoting his book, “An Introduction to Islam for Jews” (Jewish Publication Society, 2008), Firestone spoke at the Jewish Community Library about Islam as a world religion, Muslim views on non-Muslims and whether Muslims and Jews will be able to live in peace in Israel. The Journal caught up with him afterward. Jewish Journal: What is the No. 1 thing that Jews don’t understand about Islam? Reuven Firestone:
MADRID — Clerics representing the majority of Spain's one million Muslims have issued what they say is the world's first fatwa against Osama bin Laden. The edict by the Islamic Commission of Spain, which represents about 70 per cent of the approximately 300 mosques in the country, called bin Laden an apostate and asks Muslims to denounce him. The fatwa came on the eve of Friday's one-year anniversary of the Madrid train bombings that killed 191 people and injured 1,400. The commission's secretary general, Mansur Escudero, said the group had consulted with Muslim leaders in other countries, including Morocco, Algeria and Libya, and had their support. "They agree," Escudero said. "What I want is that they say so publicly." The fatwa said that "the terrorist acts of Osama 
DOHA - A conference on Muslim-Christian Dialogue opened Thursday in Qatar with an official call to broaden the forum to include Judaism. Qatari Prime Sheikh Abdullah bin Khalifa al-Thani set the stage for two days of inter-faith talks by drawing parallels between those who believe in the oneness of God.
