Pope Calls on Religious Leaders to Come Together

[sonz]

VATICAN CITY, March 16 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Muslims, Christians and Jews must collaborate to teach respect for religions and their symbols, promote peace and engage in a dialogue, Pope Benedict XVI has said.

"This is especially important today when particular attention must be given to teaching respect for God, for religions and their symbols, and for holy sites and places of worship," he told a visiting delegation of the American Jewish Committee Thursday, March 16, according to Reuters.

He was referring to global protests over the cartoons that lampooned Prophet Mohammad (peace and blessings be upon him) as well as the attacks in recent months on churches, mosques and synagogues in several countries.

Religious leaders had a responsibility to "work for reconciliation through genuine dialogue," the Pope said.

"Judaism, Christianity and Islam believe in the one God, creator of heaven and earth.

"It follows, therefore, that all three monotheistic religions are called to cooperate with one another for the common good of humanity, serving the case of justice and peace in the world," he said.

The Pope has condemned the cartoons, first published by a Danish newspaper and later in other European papers, which Muslims believe it is blasphemous to depict the Prophet.

But he also said violent protests against the perceived offence were wrong.

In the wake of the unrest, Roman Catholic and Jewish leaders agreed earlier this month to widen their two-way dialogue to involve Muslims.

Two weeks ago, the Vatican and the Chief Rabbinate of Israel underlined the importance of a dialogue with Islam, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Jewish Challenge

David Rosen, director for inter-religious affairs at the American Jewish Committee and a member of the delegation that met the Pope, said reaching out to Islam was "the challenge of our time", according to Reuters.

"We believe it's very difficult not only because it's hard to find moderate voices (in the Muslim world) but also because those voices, if they come forward, could be endangered by extremists."

Leading Muslim intellectuals and scholars said in December last year that recognizing Islam as a faith and Palestine as a Muslim country are essential to break the current impasse in inter-faith dialogue.

The current spree of inter-faith forums cannot bridge the gap between the West and the Muslim world as differences are basically political and not religious, leading Muslim intellectuals and scholars have agreed, scholars and intellectuals said last year.