Muslims, Christians Discuss Faith and Reason in Rome

Members of the two groups had gathered for their sixth colloquium, focused on "Faith and Reason in Christianity and Islam."

VATICAN CITY (Zenit) - Benedict XVI was pleased to see representatives of Catholicism and Islam considering faith and reason in their respective creeds.

A statement from the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and the Tehran-based Center for Interreligious Dialogue of the Islamic Culture and Relations Organization affirmed the Pope's "great satisfaction" when he received representatives from their groups after the general audience today.

Members of the two groups had gathered for their sixth colloquium, focused on "Faith and Reason in Christianity and Islam." The meeting began Monday and ended today.

According to the concluding statement, "The participants were honored and pleased to be received at the end of the colloquium by His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI, who was particularly satisfied with the choice of the theme and the venue of the meeting."

The participants, with the help of six papers presented by three scholars from each side, examined the faith-reason topic, which was developed through three subthemes from the point of view of Catholics and Shiite Muslims.

The subthemes were on the relationship of faith and reason; theology/Kalam as inquiry into the rationality of faith; and faith and reason confronted with the phenomenon of violence.

Gifts of God

At the end of the meeting the participants agreed that faith and reason are both gifts of God to mankind.

They affirmed that faith and reason do not contradict each other, and that though faith might in some cases be above reason, it is never against it.

"Faith and reason are intrinsically nonviolent," the participants affirmed. "Neither reason nor faith should be used for violence; unfortunately, both of them have been sometimes misused to perpetrate violence. In any case, these events cannot question either reason or faith."

Both sides agreed to cooperate in promoting genuine religiosity, in particular spirituality, to encourage respect for symbols considered to be sacred and to promote moral values.

The participants concluded that Christians and Muslims should go beyond tolerance, accepting differences, while remaining aware of commonalities and thanking God for them. "They are called to mutual respect, thereby condemning derision of religious beliefs," the concluding statement affirmed.

It added: "Generalization should be avoided when speaking of religions. Differences of confessions within Christianity and Islam [and] diversity of historical contexts are important factors to be considered.

"Religious traditions cannot be judged on the basis of a single verse or a passage present in their respective holy books. A holistic vision as well as an adequate hermeneutical method is necessary for a fair understanding of them."

The participants expressed their satisfaction with the level of the presentations and the debates, the concluding statement noted, as well as the open and friendly atmosphere during the colloquium.