Christian theological schools opening their doors to Jews, Muslims

The next generation of Canadian rabbis will be able to point to the Catholic roots of their training – or at least of their school. The Canadian Yeshiva and Rabbinical School will begin offering classes this fall in a classroom at the University of St. Michael’s College Faculty of Theology, part of the Toronto School of Theology (TST).

Canada’s future imams will have a similar story. A master’s program in Muslim studies is taking shape at the United Church of Canada’s seminary, Emmanuel College [also at TST].
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Posted: April 20, 2011 • Permanent link: ecu.net/?p=1826
Categories: Catholic Register • In this article: Islam, Judaism Transmis : 20 avril 2011 • Lien permanente : ecu.net/?p=1826
Catégorie : Catholic Register • Dans cet article : Islam, Judaism

Rabbi Dow Marmur on the limits of interfaith dialogue

Interfaith is going global. For a long time it had been primarily about Christian-Jewish relations in western countries with occasional attempts to include Muslims and local representatives of other religions.

Eighty per cent of all Christians once lived in Europe and North America. Today, two-thirds live in Latin America, Africa and Asia where they only rarely encounter Jews but interact with many other faiths. And some 600 million Muslims live nowadays in non-Muslim countries.

This demographic transformation — complicated by pockets of Muslim militancy on the one hand and, especially after Sept. 11, western Islamophobia on the other — has shifted the focus of interreligious dialogue. The conflict between Israel and the Palestinians has also become a factor.
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Posted: May 13, 2013 • Permanent link: ecu.net/?p=6496
Categories: Opinion • In this article: Christian, Christianity, dialogue, interfaith, Islam, Judaism Transmis : 13 mai 2013 • Lien permanente : ecu.net/?p=6496
Catégorie : Opinion • Dans cet article : Christian, Christianity, dialogue, interfaith, Islam, Judaism

Muslim leaders pray at Auschwitz in interfaith move

Muslim leaders from across the globe knelt in prayer for the Holocaust dead at Auschwitz’s notorious Wall of Death on Wednesday, in an emotional visit to the Nazi German death camp in southern Poland.

Imams from Bosnia, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United States offered traditional Muslim “salat” prayers facing south toward their holy city of Makkah, shoes removed, during a Holocaust awareness visit to the site.

Thousands of Auschwitz prisoners perished at the wall, which is grey and still riddled with bullet holes. It is a stone’s throw from the infamous wrought iron “Arbeit macht frei” (Work makes you free) gate at the camp’s entrance.
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Posted: May 23, 2013 • Permanent link: ecu.net/?p=6493
Categories: News • In this article: Islam, Judaism, Shoah Transmis : 23 mai 2013 • Lien permanente : ecu.net/?p=6493
Catégorie : News • Dans cet article : Islam, Judaism, Shoah

Vatican to restart stalled talks with Egypt’s Al-Azhar University

The Vatican will restart its stalled dialogue with Sunni Islam’s main theological centre, Al-Azhar University, said Fr. Rafic Greiche, spokesman for Egypt’s Catholic Church.

Talks between the Vatican and Al-Azhar were suspended by the Muslim university in 2011 following a series of remarks made by now-retired Pope Benedict XVI.

Greiche spoke to Catholic News Service in Cairo Dec. 4, a day after Comboni Father Miguel Ayuso Guixot, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, met at the prominent Muslim university with Abbas Shouman, deputy to Al-Azhar’s grand imam, Sheik Ahmad el-Tayeb.

“There was a meeting in a positive atmosphere, and both (sides) agreed to continue,” Greiche said.
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Posted: December 4, 2013 • Permanent link: ecu.net/?p=7017
Categories: CNS • In this article: Al-Azhar, Catholic, dialogue, Islam, Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue Transmis : 4 décembre 2013 • Lien permanente : ecu.net/?p=7017
Catégorie : CNS • Dans cet article : Al-Azhar, Catholic, dialogue, Islam, Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue

Together for a New Egypt: First Meeting of Imam-Priest Exchange for 2014

“The biggest benefit of the project was my friendship with Sheikh Afifi. If I don’t see him for a few days, I always call him. I never dreamed that I would ever speak in a mosque, but through this friendship I’ve now shared at mosques in Alexandria and Cairo. “ Father Boutros Boutros, Coptic Priest in Alexandria.

The Imam-Priest exchange initiative for 2014 opened at Al Azhar al Shereef, at the invitation of the Grand Imam. The 30 imams and 30 priests who participated in the initiative in 2013 shared what they learnt and were presented with certificates.
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Posted: March 13, 2014 • Permanent link: ecu.net/?p=7442
Categories: ACNS • In this article: Al-Azhar, Christian, Egypt, interfaith, Islam Transmis : 13 mars 2014 • Lien permanente : ecu.net/?p=7442
Catégorie : ACNS • Dans cet article : Al-Azhar, Christian, Egypt, interfaith, Islam

Vatican, Anglicans, Muslims sign accord against human trafficking

The Vatican, the Anglican Communion and a leading Muslim institution signed a historic agreement to work together to end human trafficking worldwide by 2020.

The new accord, signed during a Vatican news conference March 17, launched the beginning of the Global Freedom Network, which hopes to expand to include all the world’s major faiths.

The global initiative aims to prevent modern forms of slavery; to protect, rescue and rehabilitate victims; and to promote concrete measures that condemn or criminalize human trafficking.

In a joint statement, the accord’s signatories called human trafficking and modern forms of slavery “crimes against humanity” and called for urgent action by all faith communities to join the effort to “set free the most oppressed of our brothers and sisters.”

“Only by activating, all over the world, the ideals of faith and of shared human values can we marshal the spiritual power, the joint effort and the liberating vision to eradicate modern slavery and human trafficking from our world and for all time,” the joint statement said.

“This evil is man-made and can be overcome by faith-inspired human will and human effort,” it said.
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Posted: March 17, 2014 • Permanent link: ecu.net/?p=7448
Categories: CNS • In this article: Al-Azhar, Anglican, Catholic, human trafficking, Islam, justice Transmis : 17 mars 2014 • Lien permanente : ecu.net/?p=7448
Catégorie : CNS • Dans cet article : Al-Azhar, Anglican, Catholic, human trafficking, Islam, justice

US bishops reassert commitment to dialogue with Muslims

The Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) reasserted their commitment to dialogue with other religions and Muslims in particular in a statement developed between October 2013 and its release August 19. The committee, which is chaired by Auxiliary Bishop Denis J. Madden of Baltimore, listed tensions between Christians in Muslims in different parts of the world as a primary reason for reaffirming the need for dialogue.

“We understand the confusion and deep emotions stirred by real and apparent acts of aggression and discrimination by certain Muslims against non-Muslims, often against Christians abroad,” the bishops wrote. “Along with many of our fellow Catholics and the many Muslims who themselves are targeted by radicals, we wish to voice our sadness, indeed our outrage, over the random and sometimes systematic acts of violence and harassment—acts that for both Christians and Muslims threaten to disrupt the harmony that binds us together in mutual support, recognition, and friendship.”
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Posted: August 19, 2014 • Permanent link: ecu.net/?p=7768
Categories: News • In this article: Catholic, dialogue, Islam, US Conference of Catholic Bishops Transmis : 19 aoüt 2014 • Lien permanente : ecu.net/?p=7768
Catégorie : News • Dans cet article : Catholic, dialogue, Islam, US Conference of Catholic Bishops

WCC general secretary welcomes Muslim scholars’ letter

The World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit has welcomed publication of an open letter by a group of 126 Muslim scholars to Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, leader of the self-proclaimed “Islamic State” (IS) and his followers.

The letter, issued on 24 September, condemns actions of the IS from an Islamic religious perspective.

“The meticulous, detailed and scholarly rebuttal of the claims of the IS to represent authentic Islam offered by this letter will be an important resource for Muslim leaders who seek to enable people of all religions to live together with dignity, respecting our common humanity.”

“I am especially concerned at present for the safety and flourishing of Christian communities in the Middle East, as well as in other continents. This document is a significant contribution to how we together as people and leaders from our faith perspective and address threats to our one humanity,” Tveit said.

“We look forward to continuing to collaborate with our key Muslim friends and partners, a number of whom are signatories of this letter, to work together with them for peace and justice throughout the Middle East and in other parts of the world,” Tveit concluded.

• Full text of the letter from the Muslim scholars

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Posted: October 1, 2014 • Permanent link: ecu.net/?p=7830
Categories: WCC News • In this article: Islam, statements, violence Transmis : 1 octobre 2014 • Lien permanente : ecu.net/?p=7830
Catégorie : WCC News • Dans cet article : Islam, statements, violence

Christians and Muslims condemn extremism and violence committed in the name of religion

The Centre for Interreligious Dialogue of the Islamic Culture and Relations Organisation and the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue held their Ninth Colloquium of dialogue from 24 to 26 November in Teheran, Iran, under the joint chairmanship of Abuzar Ibrahimi Turkaman, president of the Islamic Culture and Relations Organisation, and Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue. At the end of the meeting, the participants agreed on the following:
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Posted: November 27, 2014 • Permanent link: ecu.net/?p=8180
Categories: Vatican News • In this article: Catholic, Iran, Islam, Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, Shiite Transmis : 27 novembre 2014 • Lien permanente : ecu.net/?p=8180
Catégorie : Vatican News • Dans cet article : Catholic, Iran, Islam, Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, Shiite

PCIRD: Make space for dialogue with Muslims, now more than ever

The events of recent times cause many of us to ask: ‘Is there still space for dialogue with Muslims?’. The answer is: yes, more than ever. Firstly because the great majority of Muslims themselves do not identify with the current acts of barbarism. Unfortunately today the word ‘religious’ is often associated with the word ‘violence’, whereas believers must demonstrate that religions are required to be heralds of peace and not violence. To kill in the name of religion is not only an offence to God, but it is also a defeat for humanity.
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Posted: April 22, 2015 • Permanent link: ecu.net/?p=8172
Categories: Vatican News • In this article: dialogue, Islam, peace, Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue Transmis : 22 avril 2015 • Lien permanente : ecu.net/?p=8172
Catégorie : Vatican News • Dans cet article : dialogue, Islam, peace, Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue