Christian Today spoke with Dr Wood to find out how the recent foiled attacks in London and Glasgow might have impacted Christian-Muslim relations.
CT: What was your initial reaction to the attacks in central London and Glasgow?
NW: Like most people, I was shocked by recent events, although given the last few years I wasn't necessarily surprised. We were warned that other incidents like this might occur. I think something that particularly shocks is that the people allegedly involved are related to the medical profession and that is particularly shocking because of the sense which we all have of the medical profession being dedicated to preserve and enhance life, rather than take it away.
In terms of how this affects the work of organisations like the Christian Muslim Forum, on the one hand it's unhelpful because it reinforces stereotypes about Muslims in particular and makes people fearful, but I would say it also underlines the need for exactly the sort of work we are aiming to do. We are trying to bring people together, to break down barriers of suspicion and get people talking to each other and discover what the real issues are and how they deal with them, because they are not issues for one community but issues for all of us and it is about how we as people of faith in a globalised world tackle these issues.
We are very committed to working at the grassroots level and particularly with people who are involved at the grassroots with some of these issues. Last year we held our first ever 24-hour consultation for imams and pastors and that was a very successful initial meeting. It was so successful that we are planning two in the coming year which will allow Christian and Muslim leaders to work together and get to know each other, to understand how the other thinks and operates. We also recently brought Muslim and Christian young people together to talk about their faith, about being people of faith in a secular society, learning from each other, and what it means to be a young Christian or young Muslim.
CT: Do you think Islam and Muslims are misunderstood by Christians?
NW: I think Christianity is misunderstood by Muslims and Islam is misunderstood by Christians in different degrees. I would be careful about generalising. There is always that danger, and therefore it's important to think beyond the stereotypes.
That is one of the issues we are dealing with and trying to help people break down some of those barriers, to engage across the 'parallel lives' issue and discover where there are things in common.
I think one of the issues we are concerned about is what we call the 'parallel lives' phenomenon in which people from different faith, ethnic or social groups live next to each other but don't really engage with each other. Then there is a danger in which we grow up with stereotypes and what the 'other' looks like, often reinforced by careless media representations.
