"We have made desperately poor progress on the practical agenda of pooling what is best in our respective traditions for the good of humanity and the globe because we cannot bring ourselves to face up to the theological disclosure implicit in our diversity.
"In fact, though most religious traditions are big on humility in theory, we do not seem to have a clue what it means. I half-expect to be invited to an international conference on humility and religion in which there are endless papers seeking to demonstrate in which faith the concept of humility originated and who should be awarded the gold medal for being the most humble.
"But clinging to old imperialistic and triumphal notions in the face of glaring reality is not the only charge against us. We have utterly failed to stand up against the fearful, exploitative and reactionary forces - to be labelled for shorthand and convenience purposes only as 'fundamentalist' - and allowed them to dominate each of us and the world stage perhaps as never before. I hope it is sufficient to say 'settlers', 'far-right churches in America', and 'Islamic extremists' for us to be clear about whom I am talking.
"The alibis and excuses - they are not really Christians or Muslims because proper Christians or Muslims do not believe/do those things; you mustn't tar everyone with the same brush, some of them are nice, sincere, peace-loving people; people are entitled to their beliefs, you should listen to them; or, worst of all, 'What can we do?' - simply underline our moral and spiritual bankruptcy. Wimps, the lot of us."
(Can you imagine a newspaper in the United States publishing the above?)
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