The devil may be in the details....
However the Holy Spirit is there too ...and is stronger.In a colloquium between Sciite Muslim and Catholic scholars, at the Vatican, last April on the theme:
Faith and Reason in Christianity and IslamThe delegations agreed on 7 points summarized as follow:
- Faith and reason are both gifts of God to mankind.
- Faith and reason do not contradict each other, but faith might in some cases be above reason, but never against it.
- Faith and reason are intrinsically non-violent. Neither reason nor faith should be used for violence; unfortunately, both of them have been sometimes misused to perpetrate violence. In any case, these events cannot question either reason or faith.
- Both sides agreed to further co-operate in order to promote genuine religiosity, in particular spirituality, to encourage respect for symbols considered to be sacred and to promote moral values.
- Christians and Muslims should go beyond tolerance, accepting differences, while remaining aware of commonalities and thanking God for them. They are called to mutual respect, thereby condemning derision of religious beliefs.
- Generalization should be avoided when speaking of religions. Differences of confessions within Christianity and Islam, diversity of historical contexts are important factors to be considered.
- Religious traditions cannot be judged on the basis of a single verse or a passage present in their respective holy Books. A holistic vision as well as an adequate hermeneutical method is necessary for a fair understanding of them.
The importance of the meeting is in the composition of the Islamic delegation.
Jointly presiding over the colloquium were cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, president of the pontifical council for interreligious dialogue, and Mahdi Mostafavi, president of the Islamic Culture and Relations Organization of Tehran.
Mostafavi is a "Seyyed," or one of the direct descendants of the prophet Muhammad, and until two years ago he was deputy foreign minister of Iran.
I would not be surprised by the openness of Iranian president Ahmadinejad. He might be a man who is sincerely looking for God, and might be looking for sincere witnesses.
posted by Galilei @ 3:42 pm
