World's religious leaders explore differences, common hope for peace

Published: 2007-10-23

NAPLES, Italy (CNS) -- When 300 religious leaders gathered for a three-day meeting along the Naples' seashore, they focused on a common hope for peace while exploring some of their differences. At the Oct. 21-23 interreligious dialogue for peace, sponsored by the Rome-based Sant'Egidio Community, they presented their own teachings, asked what the others taught and offered each other clarifications. At an Oct. 22 discussion about sacred Scriptures, Cardinal Walter Kasper, the Vatican official in charge of dialogue with other Christians and with the world's Jewish communities, said he thought Muslims approached their sacred book, the Quran, differently from how Christians and Jews approached the Bible. Christians and Jews, he said, believe the Bible was divinely inspired, but written by humans and therefore must be interpreted. "Isn't the Quran considered not to be inspired but to have been dictated by God?" he asked. Mohammad Sammak, secretary-general of the Lebanese Committee for Muslim-Christian Dialogue, told Cardinal Kasper, "We do not believe the Quran was dictated, but that it was revealed to the prophet Mohammed and was written down." He said Muslims believe the Quran "is sacred, holy, unchanging and absolute, but understanding it is a human act and, like all human acts, the understanding can be wrong."

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