Is Interfaith Cooperation Possible?

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Eric H

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A belated Eid Mubarik to you all,

I have been invited to an interfaith forum on Monday, and I hope to test the waters by asking if we can work and pray together.

Christians are starting to work together out on the streets late at night, through an initiative called Street Pastors. This involves going out late on a Friday night, and coming into contact with drugs, aggression, drink, gangs and rowdy behaviour. I feel so blessed that I am able to do this with Christians from 8 different churches, we pray for each other, we pray for the people on the streets.

My hopes and prayers would be for some kind of interfaith cooperation, whereby Muslims, Christians, Hindu and all others could work together.

I have been a Street Pastor for two years now, and it is such a wonderful ministry, here is a short video on Street Pastors,

Torbay http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClX9Eze4Aag&feature=related
Longsight http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djMtHhUFK2A

Blessings and peace be with you all


Eric
 
Salaam / Peace

thanks for Eid greetings and trying to help others.

Muslims in your city are not doing anything to call people to good ? :(
 
Eric H said:
I have been invited to an interfaith forum on Monday, and I hope to test the waters by asking if we can work and pray together.

My hopes and prayers would be for some kind of interfaith cooperation, whereby Muslims, Christians, Hindu and all others could work together.

Blessings and peace be with you all

Eric
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Amen to that, Eric.

Please share with us how things go at the interfaith forum.
I always wonder what kind of world we could create, if Christians and Muslims and people from other faiths could pool their resources and energies to jointly help those in need and bring a message of God's love and his instruction to us to do good, be kind and care for the weaker members of society.

How much time and energy and money do we waste fighting and arguing between each other and amongst ourselves ... ?! imsad
 
I don't think faith has anything to do with this, that there needs to be 'cooperation' between the faiths, this a social/communal cause to go out and guide others. So people whether of faith or no faith would do it because of their own morals and beliefs in helping society become a better place.
 
glo said:

Amen to that, Eric.

Please share with us how things go at the interfaith forum.
I always wonder what kind of world we could create, if Christians and Muslims and people from other faiths could pool their resources and energies to jointly help those in need and bring a message of God's love and his instruction to us to do good, be kind and care for the weaker members of society.

How much time and energy and money do we waste fighting and arguing between each other and amongst ourselves ... ?! imsad
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but it depends on "which God" we are talking about. i believe jesus and the holy spirit have nothing to offer these people. especially seeing as jesus couldnt even help himself....
 
tango92 said:
but it depends on "which God" we are talking about. i believe jesus and the holy spirit have nothing to offer these people. especially seeing as jesus couldnt even help himself....
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Hi tango

That illustrates my point.
Yes, our understanding of God might be different - quite markedly different even. But should that stop us from working together towards a better and more caring world?

Does your religion tell you to care for those in need? - So does mine.
Does your religion instruct you to be polite and kind to all, regardless of their faith? - So does mine.
Does your religion encourage you to give to the poor? - So does mine.
Does your religion tell you to put aside your own desires and to submit to and obey God? - So does mine.

So following God (even if our understanding of him is not the same) should not stop us from standing side by side and making this world a better place.
Arguing about our differences and who is right and why or why not, that's what's stopping us from standing side by side!
 
glo said:


Hi tango

That illustrates my point.
Yes, our understanding of God might be different - quite markedly different even. But should that stop us from working together towards a better and more caring world?

Does your religion tell you to care for those in need? - So does mine.
Does your religion instruct you to be polite and kind to all, regardless of their faith? - So does mine.
Does your religion encourage you to give to the poor? - So does mine.
Does your religion tell you to put aside your own desires and to submit to and obey God? - So does mine.

So following God (even if our understanding of him is not the same) should not stop us from standing side by side and making this world a better place.
Arguing about our differences and who is right and why or why not, that's what's stopping us from standing side by side!
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you appear to be under the delusion i want to be united with the christians. Islam seeks to eradicate all false beliefs. i will try my best not to portray christianity in a positve light, i do not want to help sell the pack of lies of chrisitanity. thats how i feel wether you like it or not

if you do not believe the same about christianity it means you do not really believe it to be truth. how can there be more than 1 truth? and if you really believed you had the truth and you really cared about me wouldnt you seek to eradicate my false belief?

وَقُلْ جَاء الْحَقُّ وَزَهَقَ الْبَاطِلُ إِنَّ الْبَاطِلَ كَانَ زَهُوقًا
And say: Truth hath come and falsehood hath vanished away. Lo! falsehood is ever bound to vanish.

quran 9:33 It is He Who has sent His Messenger (Muhammad SAW) with guidance and the religion of truth (Islam), to make it superior over all religions even though the Mushrikun (polytheists, pagans, idolaters, disbelievers in the Oneness of Allah) hate (it).
 
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Greetings and peace be with you Muslim Woman, glo, and aadil,

Thanks for your words of encouragement, and they give me hope that we can work together for justice for all people.

In the spirit of praying for a greater interfaith friendship and cooperation.

Eric
 
Greetings and peace be with you tango92; and thanks for your reply,

Beyond any doubt whatsoever, the same God who created you and gave you a faith through Islam, also created me and gave me a faith through Christianity. Beyond any doubt the same God hears all our prayers, despite our differences.

I believe that scriptures are intended to change ourselves, problems arise when I try and use Christian Scriptures to try and change you. I can relate to many passages in Islam, and I believe that God has given each of us the tools to strive towards justice for all people


The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said, “Shall I inform you of the best morals of this world and the hereafter?

They are to forgive he who oppresses you, to make a bond with he who severs from you, to be kind to he who insults you, and to give to he who deprives you.
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Pray for Others to Heal Yourself.

The Prophet was always concerned about other people, Muslims and non-Muslims, and would regularly pray for them. Praying for others connects you with them and helps you understand their suffering. This in itself has a healing component to it. The Prophet has said that praying for someone who is not present increases love
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In the spirit of praying for a greater interfaith friendship and understanding

Eric
 
Eric H said:
Greetings and peace be with you tango92; and thanks for your reply,

Beyond any doubt whatsoever, the same God who created you and gave you a faith through Islam, also created me and gave me a faith through Christianity. Beyond any doubt the same God hears all our prayers, despite our differences.

I believe that scriptures are intended to change ourselves, problems arise when I try and use Christian Scriptures to try and change you. I can relate to many passages in Islam, and I believe that God has given each of us the tools to strive towards justice for all people






In the spirit of praying for a greater interfaith friendship and understanding

Eric
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but this is boring

and i believe those hadith (if authentic) apply only to praying for muslims. muslims can only pray the non muslims are guided. sorry if I burst your bubble
 
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I think that interfaith cooperation .... i something that shuld happen... that doesn't mean the way that my current parish holds masses w/ spanish vietnamese and hispanic... but certainly and understanding... an acceptance..... as an example.... both muslims/catholics are very anti abortion... there should be nothing to keep the two from working together for the common good.... but sadly most people in this area and other rural areas are very closed minded. its sad that this thread even needed to be started as far as i'm concerned.
serena
 
Greetings and peace be with you serena77;

It makes more sense to work together than to work against each other, and it does seem crazy that our faith almost seems to get in the way of seeking justice for all people.

In the spirit of praying for a greater interfaith friendship

Eric
 
Greetings and peace be with you tango92;

but this is boring.
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It is boring just talking, but I am out tomorrow night with Christians from several denominations, we shall be out until around 3 am; striving to bring a little more care and kindness into our community. It would be wonderful if we could work towards an interfaith version of Street Pastors.

We are all a part of God’s wonderful creation, and I believe we should be able to pray for all of God’s creation, and that includes people who believe differently to me.

just to clarify, muslims are allowed to help non muslims in a worldly sense but not make prayer for them.
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We have to start somewhere, and that is a good starting point, there is hope for mankind.

In the spirit of praying for justice for all people despite our differences.

Eric
 
Peace Eric,

Cooperation among people of different faiths is possible and can be done as long as the help is restricted to the material needs of this world. It is also conducive for cooperation if the help is done anonymously with no mention of any religion being the provider of the help other then perhaps saying something like "This is a gift from the one creator and distributed through the combined efforts of people from all faiths and followings"
 
tango92 said:
you appear to be under the delusion i want to be united with the christians.
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Personally, I hope and pray that more people will put their differences aside and strive for a better world, where people of all backgrounds, races and religions can co-exist in harmony, where wealth is more equally distributed and where people can live safely and with dignity.

tango92 said:
but this is boring
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How can understanding and working with people of other faiths be boring?
 
glo said:

Personally, I hope and pray that more people will put their differences aside and strive for a better world, where people of all backgrounds, races and religions can co-exist in harmony, where wealth is more equally distributed and where people can live safely and with dignity.

well i pray the whole world will become muslim. if you really believed in christianity im sure youd think the same

How can understanding and working with people of other faiths be boring?
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as Eric said. talking is boring without taking action.
 
tango92 said:
well i pray the whole world will become muslim. if you really believed in christianity im sure youd think the same
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I think that in order to work with people from other faiths you have to be able - at least to some degree and for the duration of your working together - to lay aside those feelings and to focus on the common goal.

Imagine you and I were collecting money for a charity which supports a cause we both hold dear.
Could we not stand together and do that?
Whether we think (or not) that each other's faiths are wrong, and whether we wish (or not) that the other would convert to our faith shouldn't have much (if any) bearing on the charitable work we do. Should it?

as Eric said. talking is boring without taking action.
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I agree with that.
 
glo said:

I think that in order to work with people from other faiths you have to be able - at least to some degree and for the duration of your working together - to lay aside those feelings and to focus on the common goal.

Imagine you and I were collecting money for a charity which supports a cause we both hold dear.
Could we not stand together and do that?
Whether we think (or not) that each other's faiths are wrong, and whether we wish (or not) that the other would convert to our faith shouldn't have much (if any) bearing on the charitable work we do. Should it?


I agree with that.
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no on an international/large scale we should work together as the large number of parties involved etc means no party is seen as promoting their beliefs as such. so the context changes. "street pastors" is by its very name a means by which the christians move on to the streets to spread the "love". in doing so it is a direct attempt of dawah of christianity IMO. and by bringing islam into it people will think islam=chrisitanity. and i dont want to spread the word of chrisianity nor drag islam down to the level of christianity.
 
tango

are you not filled with pride and arrogance?---Islam calls us to humility to do God's will. This means to understand and keep in mind that God is all-powerful and all-knowing. Therefore, if God wants to spread Islam there is nothing human beings can do about it and if God wants to spread other than Islam, there is nothing human beings can do about it either. Our duty is to do God's will and leave the rest in his hands. And God's will is to have right belief that promotes right intentions that create right actions for the benefit of all of God's creations. If you cannot trust in God, you don't have right belief---only pride and arrogance.

Remember----God is Unity.
 

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