Mapping the Future of Interfaith Dialogue

August 16, 2003

Source: The Wichita Eagle

http://www.kansas.com/mld/eagle/living/6543458.htm

On August 16, 2003 The Wichita Eagle reported that "informational dialogue has helped situations in which Christian and Islamic leaders differ sharply in opinions, said [Jane Smith, professor of Islamic Studies at the Hartford Seminary in Connecticut]. But confrontational conversations can't build inter-faith relationships... 'I don't know that type of conversation gets us very far,' she said. 'We're much better off looking at the religion's meaning in a person's life as a place to start...' Muslims embarked on more public campaigns than ever before in the United States after the Sept. 11 attacks, said Smith, who is co-director of the Duncan Black Macdonald Center for the Study of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations at Hartford... Ecumenical work among Christians grew to include Jewish leaders in the past and in recent years has broadened to bring in Muslim leaders."