Jewish-Muslim Unity In the News December 3, 2007

The Muslim Council of Britain has finally voted to end its almost seven-year boycott of Holocaust Memorial Day:

“The MCB has always placed a lot of emphasis on inter-faith work and building ties … so this was becoming a problem.” — MCB assistant general secretary, Inayat Bunglawala

In Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn, the 6th Annual Dialogue Project Teach-In was a huge success with people of all religious stripes coming together for “no feuding, just talking”:

At another session, an imam explained that Christians and Jews were to be respected and welcomed as equals in true Muslim nations. He went on to explain that much of the radicalism associated with Islam was not consonant with a true interpretation of the faith.

“Many of the fatwas that get issued, they are issued by scholars who are unqualified and therefore they are unacceptable,” said the imam.

In South Africa, Chief Rabbi of South Africa, Dr Warren Goldstein and the Premier of the Western Cape, Ebrahim Rasool will speak on “Jews and Muslims: Faith, Community and Country” at the Chief Rabbi’s Enriching Tomorrows: Sharing Ideas for the Future public speaking forum.

Rightwing British politicans scheduled to speak at the Oxford Forum at Oxford University in England were greeted last week by a joint protest from Oxford’s Union of Jewish Students and Islamic Society:

The Union of Jewish Students and Oxford University’s Islamic Society carried a huge banner marked with the symbols of both organisations. Some Muslim demonstrators carried posters proclaiming “Hands off our Jews”, while the Jewish Society carried others saying “Hands off our Muslims”.

This beautiful interfaith “holiday service” would have been better if it had a rabbi, but whatever…

And finally, in Washington, DC leaders of Christian, Jewish, and Muslim communities came together to fight a common problem: poverty and inequality, two things all faiths consider to be front-burner issues.

May we see the end of religion-driven violence speedily in our days, and may all religious leaders come to realize the huge benefits reaped by humanity when bridges are built instead of walls.