The Abu Dhabi Document: A Political-Theological Debate.

The Abu Dhabi Document (February 4, 2019) is a courageous symbol of interfaith understanding. It makes theologically challenging assumptions. Its three most controversial claims are discussed here. (1) Can Christians and Muslims speak "in the name of God" together? They can, if doing so in the spirit of Pope Gregory VII's formula: Christians and Muslims worship the One God, but in different ways. (2) Is it faithful to the New Testament if Christians call non-Christians their brothers and sisters? It is. God is Father of all human beings and they deserve our fraternal love, but only by more and more acknowledging our filial nature we realize our vocation to become children of God. (3) Is religious diversity willed by God? It is a fruit of human choices; but God's will is not in competition with human activity. Rather, God wisely makes our actions work out into His salvific history.That holds true of our differences in religions, too: the Church recognises that interreligious encounters become for all interlocutors "purification and enrichment.