Seven bishops and other Episcopal leaders joined with a number of influential Christian leaders in signing a letter asking Muslims to forgive Christians. The letter with signatures recently appeared as a full-page advertisement in The New York Times.<\/p>\n
\u201cMuslims and Christians have not always shaken hands in friendship; their relations have sometimes been tense, even characterized by outright hostility,\u201d\u009d the authors said. \u201cSince Jesus Christ says, \u201d\u02dcFirst take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor\u2019s eye\u2019 (Matthew 7:5), we want to begin by acknowledging that in the past (e.g. in the Crusades) and in the present (e.g. in excesses of the ‘war on terror\u2019) many Christians have been guilty of sinning against our Muslim neighbors. Before we \u201d\u02dcshake your hand\u2019 in responding to your letter, we ask forgiveness of the All Merciful One and of the Muslim community around the world.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
Last month 138 Muslim scholars, clerics and intellectuals sent a letter titled \u201cA Common Word Between Us,\u201d\u009d seeking common ground between the two faiths. The letter was hand delivered to many Christian leaders including Pope Benedict XVI, the Orthodox Church\u2019s Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew 1 and all the other Orthodox patriarchs, and to the Archbishop of Canterbury and the leaders of protestant churches worldwide. Archbishop Rowan Williams has already responded to the letter in a joint communiqu\u00c3\u00a9 written with several prominent Jewish rabbis.<\/p>\n