Monday, August 10, 2009

Said Michel, Said Narsi

Jesuit scholar Fr. Thomas Michel, S.J. said in areas of conflict where extremes are the norm and polarized views gain in popularity, middle-of-the-road views tend to be smack of compromise, old-fashioned and uncommittedness.

Thus, in conflict areas like Mindanao, Said Nursi has provided ideas on how Christians and Muslims can be united, and offers people a way to be committed without anger, a peaceful way to become a practicing Muslim.

"I´ve never known of any other place in the world where peace efforts are so widespread, so many sectors of society working towards the attainment of peace," he noted.

Michel served as Secretary for Interreligious Dialogue in the Vatican and Ecumenical Secretary for the Federation of Asian Bishops´ Conferences. After spending 2008-9 at Woodstock as an International Visiting Fellow, he joined the Jesuit community in the Turkish capital of Ankara, the only Catholic religious community working in that city.

The Jesuit scholar sees no problem with advocating the tenets of Said Nursi to both Muslims and Christians.
"Christianity and Islam are two great different things," he said. "On basic questions we are united with Muslims, on others we disagree. But on most points we agree there is One God, he is compassionate, Creator of all things, merciful and exercises moral will – God cares about how we live."

Link (here) to the full article

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