GA08060

Committee recommends dialog with Muslims

By Pat Cole

SAN JOSE, June 23, 2008 — The General Assembly Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations Committee recommended that the 218th General Assembly approve three overtures aimed at improving relations between the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and Muslims.
Item 07-02, “Response to an Invitation to Interfaith Dialogue,” calls on the PC(USA) to support an invitation to dialogue and cooperation contained in A Common Word Between Us and You, a document developed by 138 Muslim clerics worldwide.

The overture calls on the Assembly to commend the document to congregations, governing bodies and seminaries as a source for interfaith dialogue and a “pathway to a new era of global peace and justice.”

The document asks that Christians “come together with us on the common essentials of our two religions … that we shall worship none but God, and that we shall ascribe no partner unto Him, and that none of us shall take others for lords beside God.”

Item 07-01, “Calling for Tolerance and Peaceful Relations Between Christian and Muslim Communities,” generated the most concern. The primary source of controversy was the overture’s original wording that “Jews, Christians and Muslims worship a common God.”

An amendment to strike the “common God” language from the overture was approved. The amended overture, which passed by a vote of 48-9 (3 abstentions), says, “Though we hold differing understandings of how God has been revealed to humankind, the PC(USA) affirms our belief in one God, the God of Abraham, whom Jews and Muslims also worship.”

Item 07-07, “On Peaceful Relations Between the Christian and Muslim Communities,” included petitions to:

• study the “current and evolving Presbyterian theological understanding” of the denomination’s relationship with Muslims;
• provide resources to presbyteries and congregations that promote good relationships between Presbyterians and Muslims at the local level;
• encourage all PC(USA) governing bodies to work for human rights and civil rights protection for Muslims.