A proposal to initiate top-level discussions between Moslem and Jewish religious leaders has been welcomed by prominent spokesmen of both faiths as well as by Christian scholars and authorities on Islam. Moslem-Jewish talks to promote Moslem-Jewish “understanding and cordiality” were called for last month by Emanuel G. Scoblionko, president of the World Council of Synagogues, as a “historic first phase in a Moslem-Jewish concord that will help bring the luster of peace to our troubled world and particularly to the Middle East.”
A Moslem leader in New York, Dr. N. N. Shoreibeh, welcomed Mr. Scoblionko’s statement as “an echo of all Islam teaches.” Dr. Shoreibeh is director of the Islamic Foundation of New York. Christian leaders have similarly welcomed the proposal for religious summit meetings between Jews and Moslems.
Prof. William Ernest Hocking of Harvard University termed the proposal “a just and courageous undertaking.” He said that he agreed with the view that the Moslem and Jewish worlds are not inevitably hostile to each other. He said that he was hard at work on the destruction of that particular myth. Professor Hagen Staack, head of the religion department at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pa., described Mr. Scoblionko’s statement as opening “delightful perspectives.”
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