The conference’s goal was to build an interfaith community, and featured “a moment of prayer and spirituality, prepared alternately by the Christian, the Jewish and the Muslim participants” at the beginning of each day. The dialogue led to varied reactions from the participants, including one Jordanian Muslimah, whose viewpoint seemingly changed as a result of the dialogue:

“I have realized I have much more in common with a Christian from Palestine than [with] a Muslim from the West” – , said Razan Abd el Haque, a Muslim from Jordan, when asked what she would take back home from the seminar. “The differences are mainly cultural, not religious.“

Additional interviews are available through the conference’s press release.

Do you agree? Is Ms. Abd al-Haque accurate — that differences between the “major world religions” really aren’t religious differences at all? Our cultures affect us in many ways — and of course, our cultures affect the way that we practice our religions and the way we interact with one another. I can’t say that “I have more in common with an American Muslim than I do with a French Jew” — for me, I don’t identify as strongly with “American” culture as much as I do with faith. Perhaps this is not the case in the rest of the world — and perhaps some people identify more culturally than religiously.

It is always interesting to see what comes out when we sit across the table from those who are different. Conferences such as these do make the world a better place — all through simple conversation and prayer.

Ms. Nunu’s appointment to her new diplomatic post drew some criticism in Bahrain, where some questioned King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa’s “political motives” with appointing Ms. Nunu, however, officials were quick to put such concerns to rest:

“This is not a public relations move,” the official told AFP, referring to the expected naming soon of Huda Nunu as the Gulf kingdom’s ambassador to Washington. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said King Hamad informed US officials during a visit to Washington in March of Bahrain’s intention to name Nunu…

“This move is not propaganda. It reflects a climate of tolerance towards minorities in Bahrain,” which is ruled by a Sunni dynasty and has a disgruntled Shiite majority…

“Nunu’s appointment stresses the seriousness of Bahrain’s reform policies … It shows that Bahrain does not differentiate between men and women in public offices and does not discriminate against citizens on the bases of their beliefs,” the official said.

Is Bahrain blazing a trail towards interfaith coexistence and unity? Bahrain’s capital boasts the only synagogue in the Persian Gulf region and Bahrain’s tiny Jewish community — numbering no more than 40 — have been “well-represented” in some spheres of Bahrain’s business community. Ms. Nunu, speaking to the Jerusalem Post, related how her family was observant of some Jewish holidays and her appointment comes amidst talk of granting “full citizenship” to Jewish returnees to Bahrain.

Ms. Nunu said she was proud to serve her country “first of all as a Bahraini”, and said that religion played no part in her selection:

“I am excited to be appointed as the first female ambassador to the U.S. I am going to take up key humanitarian issues and the entire community is delighted after the decision. I don’t think religion played a part, as I am a Bahraini.”

I wish Ms. Nunu all the best in her endeavors, and may Bahrain continue on its path to religious tolerance. Any place working towards becoming a place which truly does “not discriminate on the basis of belief” should be commended for its efforts, and Bahrain is no exception. May all of Bahrain’s Jews — only about seven families — benefit from the interfaith tolerance exhibited by King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa in his historic envoy selection, and may religious discrimination be relegated to Bahrain’s past, with all of Bahrain’s citizens living in a future of coexistence.

De Winter took out a front-page advertisement in the Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant to protest Wilders’ inflammatory actions, saying that:

“If Wilders had said the same thing about Jews (and the Old Testament) as he does about Muslims (and the Koran), he would have been ostracized a long time ago and accused of anti-Semitism.”

De Winter says Wilders’ anti-Islam hate speech are reminiscent of “how the persecution of Jews once started”, and said that for him, “there is no difference between the yarmulke and the headscarf.”

When 15-year-old students are gunned down while holding their holy books, when blood has to be mopped up off the floors of religious institutions, when eight families have to be told that their children’s schools have “floors covered in blood-soaked holy books” — the attackers are not heroes, and their attack should certainly never be praised as a “heroic operation.”

Abdallah al-Hadlaq beautifully stands up for the value of all human life, and I hope that voices like his grow and make themselves heard more and more throughout the world — because no child should have to die in such a way.