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THE QUESTION
Muslim-Christian crisis
2011 began with some bleak news for Muslim-Christian relations around the world.
Recent attacks against churches in Iraq, Nigeria and Egypt have killed dozens of Christian worshippers. Meanwhile, the Pakistani government is standing by the country's controversial blasphemy law which critics say threatens religious minorities.
How should political and religious leaders deal with these challenges to interfaith relations?
Egyptian Christians hold a blood-stained portrait of Jesus Christ as they protest on January 2, 2011 inside the Al-Qiddissine (The Saints) church in Alexandria, following a New Year's Eve car bomb attack on the Coptic church in the northern Egyptian city in which 21 people were killed. (Mohammed Abed/AFP/Getty Images)
Posted by
Elizabeth Tenety on January 3, 2011 5:10 PM
FROM THE PANEL
When hate speaks, how much are we supposed to listen?
We non-Muslims can only offer our support to those who preach peace.
Posted by Shmully Hecht, on January 10, 2011 9:57 AM
Religious extremism is the problem
There are two elements to the issue at hand, the political and the religious. While they have different solutions, the problem is the same: extreme religious fundamentalism, or more specifically, extremist Muslim fundamentalism.
Posted by Ramdas Lamb, on January 7, 2011 5:19 PM
Selective highlighting of scriptures has gone viral
Let us be more inclusive; get rid of the caricatures of "others" handed to us by previous generations; and explore the interconnections, interdependencies and similarities.
Posted by Rajan Zed, on January 7, 2011 3:17 PM
A Christian response to violence: radical love
I believe that the violence that greeted this New Year and that stained the season of peace and good will with blood ought to be and can be overcome with our prayers for both victims and perpetrators of violence. It can be overcome with our radical love.
Posted by Valerie Elverton Dixon, on January 6, 2011 8:42 PM
Half of the world cannot go to war
Christians and Muslims together form half the world's population, and as a Muslim educated in Pakistan by Christians, it breaks my heart to see these two great faiths in conflict.
Posted by Akbar Ahmed, on January 4, 2011 6:01 PM
Loving your enemies
We may all share fear, but we also all share hope that it will get better and faith that the divine wills peace. History teaches us all: Peace never comes through violence. Love your neighbors, including your enemies.
Posted by Janet Edwards, on January 4, 2011 3:06 PM
Religion must fix what it breaks
When it comes to religious conflicts and religion-inspired violence, most people need religious solutions.
Posted by Brad Hirschfield, on January 4, 2011 2:54 PM
Evangelicals must rise to the occasion
Evangelicals in the U.S. may be mocked and harassed, but we are not persecuted. Our brothers and sisters need us; will we rise to the occasion?
Posted by Jordan Sekulow, on January 4, 2011 2:43 PM
We must pray for persecuted Christians
We must pray for persecuted Christians everywhere around the world.
Posted by R. Albert Mohler Jr., on January 4, 2011 2:32 PM
The fruits of exclusionary monotheisms
Secular government, one that establishes "a wall of separation between Church & State," and ensures the rights of each individual, is the only way to ensure the violence of Egypt, Nigeria, Iraq, or Pakistan can end.
Posted by Jason Pitzl-Waters, on January 4, 2011 2:01 PM
Christians in America must speak out
What we are witnessing is another in a long list of incidents by radicalized Muslim terrorists against anyone and any faith not to their liking.
Posted by Cal Thomas, on January 4, 2011 12:43 PM
Blasphemy laws: alive and well in the U.S.?
In Pakistan, a religious offense could lead to your execution. In America, under the Boehner standard as seen in the Smithsonian controversy, such offense may only lead to your work being unavailable for some public exhibition. But it is still censorship.
Posted by Barry Lynn, on January 4, 2011 11:34 AM
Religious leaders must safeguard life
True religion, rather than doing violence to the other, suffers with the other. This is the root meaning of the word "compassion" - "to suffer with." Let's be willing to bear one another's sufferings in a way that fosters tolerance, respect, life, faith, and peace.
Posted by Fr. Frank Pavone, on January 4, 2011 11:06 AM
Religion can bear witness to truth
It will take the concerted efforts of all concerned: common individuals, political powers, and religious organizations, if 2011 is to be a year different from other years marked by sectarian depredations.
Posted by Max Carter, on January 4, 2011 9:39 AM
The danger of faith trumping reason
As long as religious beliefs are immunized from critical scrutiny and the possibility of revision, reinterpretation, and even rejection, we should expect there to be more suicide bombings, more holy wars, more strangers praying for the salvation of your soul, and more apocalyptic preachers on television looking forward to the end of the world.
Posted by Rajdeep Singh, on January 4, 2011 12:57 AM
A fundamental human right
In this twenty-first century, blasphemy laws have not yet been eradicated, and they must be. In the past, Christians used them to prosecute non-Christians or Christians with the "wrong" beliefs, and now Muslims most frequently use them. Our political "ally" Pakistan has a mandatory death sentence for anyone convicted of insulting Islam. While blasphemy laws have been used worldwide to persecute minorities, Christians are currently the main target in Pakistan.
Posted by Herb Silverman, on January 3, 2011 10:08 PM
Don't be fooled: this is political power disguised as religious violence
The faith challenge here is to recognize that this is an emerging pattern of brutal, violent political manipulation of religion, and reject it.
Posted by Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite, on January 3, 2011 7:48 PM
