We often hear about the radical statements and fatwás of Muslims and about uncompromising Christian or secular activists who can appeal to populist sentiments and mistrust of the ‘other’. A major problem is that they also often refer to religious texts, which pours oil on the fire of the feelings of those who believe that particular religions are opposed to their own. It becomes even worse when the media, and sometimes scholars, misinterpret statements and highlight the radical statements of Muslims or Christians without putting them in context or without showing that many Muslim and Christian religious scholars disagree with the beliefs of some of their co-religionists.

 

We should not neglect radical statements and beliefs, regardless of who expressed them, and we certainly must not if it turns out that there is a large constituency who finds them appealing. Radicalism should be fought especially by people from the same religion. Muslim scholars should oppose radicalism within Islam and Christian scholars should oppose radicalism within Christianity. Fortunately, there are hundreds of such scholars, both Muslim and Christian, who do so. Sadly, the media are much more focused on radicalism than those who are opposed to it. Not only is their attention often one-sided, it is also usually deeply biased. It is counterproductive to make generalizations about Muslims and their beliefs. It pushes Muslims onto the defensive instead of encouraging them to address radicalism in their own communities.

 

In this paper, which was written for the University of West Bohemia, Pilsen, Czech Republic, I highlight two Christian and two Muslim scholars who have influenced my outlook on Muslim-Christian relations:
 

I have only highlighted four scholars, but these great scholars should certainly not be seen as the only ones who have influenced my thinking about Muslim-Christian relations. There are many others who have played a part. We should listen to their voices and not just allow ourselves to be swept away by the voices of radicalism, because if we allow that to happen we just end up encouraging the polemics and religious polarization. Polemics and polarization do nothing useful to serve humanity.

In March I was interviewed by Rik Bokelman for a large Dutch Christian internet site with a strong Evangelical slant. I am grateful for her translation for Arab-West Report. The interview shows how I present Muslim-Christian relations to a Dutch Christian audience. It is not always easy because of the tremendous misconceptions fed by the media and the limited space one always gets when interviewed.