KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (ABP) — Baptists must continue to dialogue with Muslims around the world in hopes of promoting “peaceful living together,” a Baptist World Alliance commission concluded July 6.
Nicholas Wood (left), director of the Oxford Centre for Christianity and Culture, and Nabil Costa, executive director of the Lebanese Society for Educational and Social Development, moderate discussion at the Baptist/Muslim commission meeting.
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Developing a process by which Christians and Muslims can address and resolve issues of conflict is essential, said members of the BWA’s commission on Baptist-Muslim relations, meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in conjunction with the global organization’s annual gathering July 4-9.
“The aim of the commission is to encourage further dialogue to promote peaceful living together,” said Nabil Costa of Beirut, Lebanon, who chairs the panel. “This is not a matter of choice anymore. While we will not compromise our faith, we need to understand and live with each other. As Baptists, we are against any act that disrespects or humiliates any religious group. This is our position.”
Costa is executive director of the Lebanese Society for Educational and Social Development, an umbrella organization for several educational ministries, including the Arab Baptist Theological Seminary and the Beirut Baptist School.
Dialogue is already taking place among scholars and religious leaders of both faiths, commission members reported. A recent gathering at Andover Newton Theological School in Newton Centre, Mass., drew about 60 Muslim and Baptist religious scholars. The event began with Muslim prayers at a mosque on a Friday evening and concluded with Christian worship at a church on a Sunday morning. The focus was on what Baptist and Muslim scriptures, traditions and practices say about “loving neighbors.”
Participants will meet again in early 2012, once more at Andover Newton, to explore the theme “Love of God.” Eventually they plan to include pastoral leaders and young people, not just scholars. In order to succeed, they believe, dialogue must reach the grassroots level of laypeople.
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Jim White is editor of the Religious Herald.