Do you think there is a possibility of alliance among Christians and Muslims
against antichrist, against hatred, conflicts, wars and all the evil in the world?
I think that there is always the opportunity for people of goodwill to work together on ambitions and goals that serve a common purpose. This doesn’t mean that we pretend that our differences don’t exist and this doesn’t mean that we pretend that we agree on every item. I think that that’s not respectful to Islam nor is it respectful to Christianity. Having said that I think that there are a number of ways and a number of places in which people of goodwill both Muslim and Christian and Jew, can work together for fostering good relations, for encouraging peaceful co-existence, for working together to understand each other better. I think these are all things that as we work together, can hopefully provide an arena, a culture in which there is mutual love, respect and toleration. I think for these reasons, I am hopeful. Whenever I meet, as I have in this trip, such gracious and warm Muslim friends who very clearly have respect and tolerance towards other religions, I find that something very encouraging and I appreciate that very much. Again this is not to pretend that we don’t disagree. I’m a Christian and I understand Jesus to be how the Christians understand him, Lord and savior. I realize that my Islamic friends have a different opinion. We can have that conversation. And not pretend that we don’t have disagreements. But it is in this environment in which we understand each other better and understand each other well that it enables us to live together, in a very positive way that makes advances in terms of building a culture, building societies in which people can live together peaceably without bigotry, without hatred and without fear. And that’s something I think that we can all support.
