VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis says the most effective antidote to violence among Christians and Muslims is learning about each other and then accepting differences.
Francis also told participants Saturday of a meeting promoted by the Pontifical Institute of Arab and Islamist Studies that only by carefully listening can interreligious dialogue make progress.
He said “patience and humility” are essential for deepened Islamic-Christian dialogue while merely superficial dialogue will only yield “stereotypes and preconceptions.”
I might add that a really good examination of Christianity, Islam and Judaism would reveal a surprising number of commonalities as well. After all, The Holy Books of all three religions have a common starting point – God and Abraham.
Rather than just accepting the differences, maybe we should look deeper into them to see if there isn’t more in common. And when we’ve found that, if we really truly believe in the same God of Abraham, then see if we can’t – through prayer and careful study – see what is God’s plan for all of His children.
The same God made promises to Abraham about both Ishmael and Isaac. Is it unreasonable to assume that He doesn’t have a common plan of salvation for all of us?
The full article can be read at msn.com world news. (Sorry – apparently this article is no longer available)