Comments on: Let The Muslims Not Shy Away From Inter-faith Dialogues http://www.bloggernews.net/115985 High-quality English language analysis and editorial writing on the news. Tue, 24 Nov 2009 09:48:02 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.3 By: Paul Maurice Martin http://www.bloggernews.net/115985#comment-363320 Paul Maurice Martin Sun, 01 Jun 2008 21:35:14 +0000 http://www.bloggernews.net/115985#comment-363320 The more communication the better. I think one potentially powerful thing Muslims can do is get Christians and Jews to read the Koran whenever possible. I first read it in 1982. Even back then, as an American, the only association I had with Islam from the media was terrorism. After reading the Koran I vividly recall realizing that "Islamic" terrorists were completely violating their own scripture. I no longer thought of them as Islamic terrorists - not any more than I think of Christians who gun down doctors for performing abortions are "Christian" gunmen. Anyone can play the game of picking the most violent verses from somebody else's scripture and then calling it a religion of hate. You could do it with Christianity and Judaism as easily as Islam. But it's just a stupid, violence-inciting game. Anyone from the Judeo-Christian tradition who reads the Koran will know that it ought to be called the Judeo-Christian-Islamic tradition. The Islamic unifying concept of "People of the Book" is right on. We have more in common than not in common, imo. The more communication the better.

I think one potentially powerful thing Muslims can do is get Christians and Jews to read the Koran whenever possible. I first read it in 1982. Even back then, as an American, the only association I had with Islam from the media was terrorism.

After reading the Koran I vividly recall realizing that “Islamic” terrorists were completely violating their own scripture. I no longer thought of them as Islamic terrorists - not any more than I think of Christians who gun down doctors for performing abortions are “Christian” gunmen.

Anyone can play the game of picking the most violent verses from somebody else’s scripture and then calling it a religion of hate. You could do it with Christianity and Judaism as easily as Islam. But it’s just a stupid, violence-inciting game.

Anyone from the Judeo-Christian tradition who reads the Koran will know that it ought to be called the Judeo-Christian-Islamic tradition. The Islamic unifying concept of “People of the Book” is right on. We have more in common than not in common, imo.

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