Finding Common Ground in all Faith Walks - Dr. Muhammed Cetin's Islamic Perspective given on 10/29/2009 per Interfaith Federation of Greater Baton Rouge

The Interfaith Federation of Greater Baton Rouge Breakfast that was held today at St. George was great! http://www.ifedgbr.com/menu/files/prayerbreakfast.pdf

It was neat to hear Dr. Muhammed Cetin's faith sharings - particularly about his upbringing in war-torn Turkey. He noted that as a child, he and his family had to keep "bomb vigils" at night to throw out bombs that had been tossed in their residence by "enemies" - people of different religious beliefs.

After being exposed to the emphasis on finding common ground with our fellow man per M. Fethullah Gülen - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fethullah_G%C3%BClen, he grew up to promote this - particularly per the The Gülen Movement: Civic Service Without Borders.

I was fascinated by his deep understanding of the universal truths that he shared that were common to all faiths and the primary foundation was a RIGHT TO LIFE with the following 3 tenets:

1. Be oneself, while for others,
2. We cannot tolerate sin, and
3. We must tolerate the sinner!

We share the same Creator, Messengers (angels, etc.) of Holiness, so we are obligated to treat all of creation, especially fellow humans - with divergent beliefs and practices - with:

1. Love,
2. Compassion, and
3. Tolerance.

Education is the key to drawing all to a better understanding of how to relate better to one another. Mutual enrichment leads to mutual understanding.

A specific task to enabling the above is Interfaith Dialogue that focuses on the "here and now/present." Let Scholars focus on the past, which we can learn from, but we, the common folk have to look beyond the past to find better ways to communicate this emphasis.

The GBR Interfaith Federation is doing a wonderful job of promoting this type of harmony emphasis in our community. Godspeed