Drinking and eating together helps people break down prejudices and stereotypes and develop friendships, Rick Love says.
Photo courtesy of Rick Love
Christians should be proactive in reaching out to break down barriers between Christians and Muslims -- and often that means sharing food and drink, says the president of Peace Catalyst International.
Mural of Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador, one of the best-known proponents of liberation theology. Romero was assassinated in 1980 while offering Mass. This year, Pope Francis declared Romero a martyr.
Alison McKellar via Wikimedia Commons
Christian leadership is possible only when leaders are in turn led by God, writes the former president of Fuller Theological Seminary. That is something that even liberation theologians and Pentecostals can agree upon.
Illustration by Claire Doyle Ragin
Like Paul, military chaplains must sometimes be “all things to all people,” welcoming and praying with people of many faiths, an Army chaplain says. Hospitality to the other never distracts from the one who directs her path.
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At a time of increasing religious violence, an Episcopal priest recalls a long-ago visit to the Sikh Golden Temple in northern India, where radical hospitality forever shaped her vision of Christian community.
A New York City church has welcomed in congregations from other faiths and denominations. This thriving community is marked by hospitality, listening and humility.
The global church is one in which Christians are both connected to and conscious of other faiths and denominations, says a Georgetown scholar of religion.
Prejudice against Muslims has a long history in the West, says a British legal scholar. Personal contact is the antidote, and churches have a crucial role to play in making those contacts, she says.
As settlement of the African Muslim diaspora in the United States continues, Christian leaders should step boldly into this change to create community with Muslim newcomers.
What does Jesus say to us who say we follow him?
Affirmation of inclusion in the body of Christ is the purest expression of denominations, but too often they encourage exclusion, says the former international executive director of Word Made Flesh.