For the past three years, the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) has engaged in conversations with representatives of the world’s largest Muslim organisation, the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) in Indonesia, to pursue the mutual desire to protect religious freedom for all. The emerging partnership led to the recent publication of a joint book titled God Needs No Defense – Reimagining Muslim-Christian Relations in the 21st Century. WEA’s and NU’s hope is to chart a new direction for Christians and Muslims to engage with each other honestly and respectfully, even if they disagree with the others’ beliefs.

What some described as an ‘unlikely partnership’ between the WEA, that represents over 600 million evangelicals in 143 countries, and the NU, that represents some 90 million Muslims, is rooted in the shared desire to counter radical and violent expressions of religion and build a safer and more peaceful world. Most foundational for living together peacefully is for the state and society to respect the right of any person to choose their religion, or as WEA Secretary General Bishop Dr Thomas Schirrmacher expressed it: “We are working together for the right to convert each other.”

In his thank you address at the book launch that took place in Washington, DC, Schirrmacher noted that both Christianity and Islam experienced times in history where theological disagreements between the two religions, or even among different groups within the same religion, led to conflict or even war. On the other hand, there are also many examples of societies where Christians and Muslims live together peacefully and at times also cooperate on issues of mutual concern.

Conscious that some believers are hesitant about engaging with people of different faith in fear they might compromise their own convictions, Schirrmacher emphasised that interreligious dialogue and co-operation does not contradict absolute truth claims.

“It is possible to advocate for religious freedom, social harmony, and interreligious co-operation without sharing the convictions of other religious groups,” he said.

God Needs No Defense can be downloaded, free, from the WEA website, worldea.org

(WEA)