Africa: Muslim-Christian Dialogue is Noble and Urgent for Continent

April 22, 2008

Author: Henry Makori

Source: allAfrica/Catholic Information Service for Africa

[allafrica.com/stories/200804220877.html]

Catholic bishops and other officials from sub-Saharan Africa met in Nairobi last week to evaluate the Church's progress in its relations with other religions, especially Islam. The conference, opened by Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, president of the Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue at the Vatican, took place against a backdrop of growing realization of the need for better understanding and collaboration between Muslims and Christians.

As Cardinal Tauran noted, in a world shrunk by advanced communications technologies and travel (the global village), it is "unrealistic and impossible to live as if people of other religions and philosophies do not exist." Instead, people should learn to "live harmoniously and work together in a religiously mixed society."