Muslims and Christians in conversation – Photo by Ben Ong, courtesy of Rev Sivin Kit’s blog
A unique event was held on 12 June, bringing together speakers living as minorities in plural societies, in this case Muslims in a Western society and Christians in a Muslim-majority society.
Over a hundred people flocked to Father’s House, Bangsar Lutheran Church, to participate in the dialogue, jointly organised by Friends in Conversation and the Muslim Professionals Forum.
One of the organisers and facilitators of the event, Rev Sivin Kit, has write-ups of the event here and here.
Aloysius Pinto made a striking observation:
Through the conversations by these four persons, something interesting struck me!
It dawned on me that what is really happening is that there is a real battle heating up. The battle is not among races and religious groups, but between the Believers of TRUTH and the manipulation by PERCEPTION. Believer of all faiths have so much in common, and this event clearly showed the vast similarities.
Believers of various FAITHS must continue to engage with each other, not only in forums and formal events, but more so in our daily lives.
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Read Surah All Kaafirun from the Al-Quran. 1. Say : O ye that reject Faith!. 2. I worship no that which ye worship. 3. Nor will ye worship that which I worship. 4. And I will not worship that which ye have been wont to worship. 5. Nor will ye worship that which I worship. 6. To you be your Way, and to me mine. We Muslims hold onto this. Allah is One. The concept of Christianity in its Holy ghost, god and son, is not applicable in Islam becoz as per AlQuran and Hadeeths, Allah does not have children… Read more »
Aloysius, how right u are. We should dwell on your point.
Imagine there’s no religion.
John Lennon put into music what most of us feel. How do you trust God’s words with man?
It’s not my faith in God that is in question.
Wow, my church made it into your blog! Imagine that … 😉
Since some claim that the course of problem might be due to religion and other kinds of diversity, they wish to wish them off so that those problems wont arise. Diversity is not the problem here. the problem is solely on the people who misunderstand, misinterpret, lack of tolerance, lack of respect and worst of all claim their deviancy correct and condemn the rest. The reason for diversity is to allow human beings to get to know, understand each other coming to live in harmony. Diversity was created by God (The bible story – tower or Babel, the 12 tribes… Read more »
Diverse ideas and opinions divide. Should we have no diversity at all?
Sometime many people tend to forget they are just fellow human beings, if emphasis is too much on what faith they belong.
How nice if all of us can put aside our beliefs / religions or have no religion at all, and live together as fellow human beings.
Come to think of this, the existence of religions in this material world is supposed to bring peace, but why conflicts still remain since long long ago?
Whose faults?
Religion or people? or,
Should we have no religion at all?
This is brilliant! But the forum must involve hard questions in order to speak and seek the TRUTHS, such as the opression and injustice towards women/girls, gays. non-Islamic communities, converts from Islam etc.. Islam has to be reclaimed back from the deceitful Islamists (an Arabic-led elite class that politicized Islam as a dogmatic idelogy, for the sake of maintaining or constructing dominant racist, sexist and facist power over ordinary Muslim and non-Muslims alike). In Christianity, Reformation since the 16th. century, as started very bravely by a small priest, Martin Luther (some in the Vatrican tried to have him burnt at… Read more »
Beyond the river of theological difference lies an ocean of similarities… I’ve personally realized this for a long time.
Another realization is that when the differences are continuously brought to the fore, it’s rarely about faith, but more about power…
Thanks Anil for spreading the word. I have also posted up part two here (which includes a short video of the atmosphere and opening comments)