Unfortunately, I have to state that our religions do have enemies who would like to see Christians and Muslims clash, on the one hand, or to bring them to a false 'unity' based on religious and moral indifference, thus giving priority to purely secular concerns, on the other. Therefore we as religious leaders need each other, so that our faithful may preserve their identity in the changing world.Taken from Europaica; see also the website of the Moscow Patriarchate.
To my mind, this is an interesting "third way." It seems in our American discussions of Christianity and Islam we talk either about "tolerance" on the left-wing of politics, which plays to a secularizing philosophy of man's place in the universe, or we speak of "clash of civilizations," which plays to a fundamentalist mindset of religious domineering, an "us v. them" attitude. If we take the Moscow Patriarch rightly, I believe, we can perhaps see this point of view: while there are irreconcilable differences in the fundamental aims and actions of each religion, there is common cause between them on the level of religious liberty. If I recall, there is something about this very liberty written in the Constitution of the United States, ...
The danger, of course, is that one or both religions will not actually value such liberty as a foundational principle, but will avail itself of the growth and development such liberty affords until such time as it may dominate other religions. This strain is historically present in both Christianity and Islam, the temptation to force the submission of the infidel.
I leave it to others to argue about who, Christianity or Islam, has done more "forcing" through the ages ...
Nonetheless, the notion that the leadership of Islam and Christianity may find common cause in defending each religion's believers against both unbelief and radicalism, does give some food for thought, doesn't it?
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