Common Ground & Peace For The Sake of the World

As the Empire State Building goes green for Muslim holiday, the UK's ecumenical think tank Ekklessia reports:

Muslim statement on peace among the religions 'historic'
A statement by leading Muslim scholars setting out the mainstream Islamic view on peace among the religions "for the sake of the world" has been described as "a historic breakthrough" by a leading Cambridge academic working on inter-religious issues...

"The Unity of God, the necessity of love for [God], and the necessity of love of the neighbour is thus the common ground between Islam and Christianity," say 138 Muslim leaders, representing all branches of the faith, say in the letter entitled 'A Common Word Between Us and You.'

The BBC reports that the letter says that world peace could depend on improved relations between Muslims and Christians. It identifies the principles of accepting only one god and living in peace with one's neighbours as common ground between the two religions. It also insists that Christians and Muslims worship the same god.

See related article Bush: All religions pray to 'same God'

Read From Warren Smith's "Reinventing Jesus", Chapter Seven:

In the fall of 2001, a book entitled From the Ashes: A Spiritual Response to the Attack on America was published by the multi-faith e-community Beliefnet. The book contained articles by a variety of “spiritual leaders” and “extraordinary citizens” written in response to the tragic events of September 11, 2001....A number of Christian leaders were included in this book as well as many familiar New Age leaders. Articles by Billy Graham, Charles Colson, Bill Hybels, Max Lucado, Bruce Wilkinson, Rick Warren and others were interspersed with articles written by popular New Age figures like the Dalai Lama, Starhawk the witch and Neale Donald Walsch. Not only did Christian leaders find themselves in the company of top New Age leaders in this book, they were also now being challenged by some of these same New Age leaders. For example, Neale Donald Walsch’s article appeared near the beginning of the book and challenged Christian ministers and religious leaders everywhere, in the light of September 11th, to adopt the New Gospel teaching that “we are all one.” This was based on the unbiblical New Age belief that God is in everyone and everything. Walsch wrote:

"We must change ourselves. We must change the beliefs upon which our behaviors are based. We must create a different reality, build a new society…. We must do so with new spiritual truths. We must preach a new gospel, its healing message summarized in two sentences:
We are all one. Ours is not a better way, ours is merely another way. This 15-word message, delivered from every lectern and pulpit, from every rostrum and platform, could change everything overnight. I challenge every priest, every minister, every rabbi, and religious cleric to preach this."

Walsch obviously knew how spiritually appealing the idea of peace and oneness would sound to a frightened humanity wondering when the next disaster might strike. What an opportune time to introduce the New Age doctrine of spiritual oneness to an anxious and vulnerable world. But the Bible clearly teaches that while all nations are of one blood (Acts 17:26), they are not all of one spirit (Romans 8:9-14; 1 Corinthians 2:12). The Bible states that we are only “one” with God and with each other in Jesus Christ.

See related article "Peace" Churches Pay Homage to Iran

Watch this video from Emergent church guru Brian McClaren who also says "everything must change".