European church council urges closer ties with Muslims

Published: 2003-12-09

WARSAW, Poland (CNS) -- A European church council is calling on Christians to take the initiative in improving ties with Muslims. "If we consider Islam a religious and political system to fight against, we strongly risk putting ourselves in a church which stands for self-sufficiency and aggression," the interchurch Islam in Europe Committee said in a study paper released in late November. The Islam in Europe Committee, set up in 1998 by the Catholic Council of European Bishops' Conferences and the Christian Conference of European Churches, said in the 39-page document that recent history had brought "plenty of sorry examples of violent confrontations, conquests and discrimination between Christians and Muslims." "We must constantly size up this pluralistic world. Since we must live with others, it is better to see them as brothers and sisters whom God has put on our journey, and in whose company he asks us to grow," the document said. The document said the world's 2 billion Christians and 1.3 billion Muslims could become "trailblazers of peace in the third millennium."

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