The Ju Ju of War

[skiguy]

Here's where I'm trying to go with this. It's perhaps simple-minded and maybe even insane (but it's well thought out insanity).
What if I (who leans towards a fundamentalist belief) and a Catholic are on the same peacekeeping team who meet up with a Muslim religious leaders/spokespeople. We start an open dialogue and the Muslim may ask a question like, "But your Bible teaches xxxxx". One of us will say, "That's what he believes, but I don't, yet we still like, respect, and accept one another." The conversation alone may not solve the problems of the world, but it's still a good example of respect for one another. And the main thing is, it starts an open dialogue. People have done this before and it worked.
Does this make sense, or am I way out in left field/unreality land?

To comment on the original post: do not take any "side". This should not be a "my God is better than your God" conflict. Isn't that what the extremists want us to think? We are not at war with Islam.

[marct]

Hi Skiguy,

Here's where I'm trying to go with this. It's perhaps simple-minded and maybe even insane (but it's well thought out insanity).
What if I (who leans towards a fundamentalist belief) and a Catholic are on the same peacekeeping team who meet up with a Muslim religious leaders/spokespeople. We start an open dialogue and the Muslim may ask a question like, "But your Bible teaches xxxxx". One of us will say, "That's what he believes, but I don't, yet we still like, respect, and accept one another." The conversation alone may not solve the problems of the world, but it's still a good example of respect for one another. And the main thing is, it starts an open dialogue. People have done this before and it worked.
Does this make sense, or am I way out in left field/unreality land?

Works for me . Then again, one of the corollaries of that is to keep missionaries out of the field since they will act as a poison against that very position. Furthermore, the very assurance that they need in order to be effective missionaries is the very same arrogance in the rectitude of their own beliefs that will sour most people who hear them.

To comment on the original post: do not take any "side". This should not be a "my God is better than your God" conflict. Isn't that what the extremists want us to think? We are not at war with Islam.

Agreed totally and,yes, that is exactly how the psychos in AQ want to construct this.

[Rex Brynen]

To comment on the original post: do not take any "side". This should not be a "my God is better than your God" conflict. Isn't that what the extremists want us to think? We are not at war with Islam.

I agree with you, skiguy.

There's an interesting paradox in here, actually: unless he's a hardline takfiri or some other manner of xenophobe, your Muslim interlocutor ought to accept your Christian belief, since after all Christians and Jews are ahl al-kitaab —"peoples of the book"—worshipping the same god. In his religious view (simply put), your heart is in the right place, but Christianity misunderstood the message of the prophets (including Jesus), hence the need for the Prophet Muhammad to provide a final, definite revelation of God's word as the "seal of the prophets."

On the other hand, Christianity—doctrinely—ought to have a harder time accepting Islam, since it rejects any notion of Muhammad as a prophet, or of Islam being a divinely revealed religion.

In practice, however, this isn't quite the situation you might find. He may (depending on where we're talking about, and the extent of his interaction with local and outside non-Muslims) harbour deep suspiccion about non-Muslim beliefs, even monotheistic ones. You, on the other hand, have likely been socialized into an environment in which religious pluralism, even multiculturalism, is a civic norm.

I suppose what I'm saying is that your example raises some interesting questions about the extent to which the dynamics of inter-religious dialogue are shaped by local societal and cultural context as much, or more, than it may be shaped by the core theological doctrines of religion.

[skiguy]

I don't think anyone, Christian, Jew, or Muslim, has to deny their beliefs. It's learning to accept. I will never accept what's in the Qu'ran, but there's no reason I can't be friends with a Muslim (or Jew). Similarly, there's no reason a Shia can't be friends with a Sunni (and it's not like that isn't happening anyway).

Marc...no missionaries!! Keep them away! No trying to convert others. I'm thinking of this solely in a COIN context. However, I think this should be primarily a civilian job.