It was a two-day dialogue in which I promoted this idea that the whole world has a conflict between Islam and Christianity. Then I said that since within China there was no conflict between Islam and Christians, why not have a dialogue of peace first so that we can influence the whole world? Also, it is good for the image of China.
So the Chinese government thought this was a good idea, for we already have Muslims and Christians that live together in places like Lanzhou. Half of the population of Lanzhou are Muslim, and there are some Christians and some Buddhists there, so why not bring them together? But the government, of course, is concerned about whether there is any conflict happening during our dialogue, so the government officials came and listened to see if anything bad happened. That means if we fight against each other, taunting each other, we would have trouble. But that didn't happen.
The object of our dialogue is that.... I am a Christian, but then I reach out to a leading Muslim professor in Lanzhou. I personally dialogue with him first, and we have written from time to time and published in our journal. Then I asked a lot of questions that western people ask Muslims, and said, “Oh, you are wrong in this and that.” I give him total freedom to answer all these questions, and he was very happy that I liked to listen to their point of view.
Then afterward I presented the great idea of dialogue between Islam and the Christians. They were very happy. Then the Christian representative from Hong Kong.... There are several Christian professors and Christian leaders from there, and also some Christian leaders from Lanzhou go to the conference. The Muslims also have their imam and the priests all come. There are about 20 Muslims and their leading priest in the mosque. They invite us Christians to go to the mosque and treat us to a good meal and we have a very good talk. Then we invite them to the church in China, and they ask questions about Christianity. Afterward we go to the university and have a real dialogue between Christian scholars and Muslim scholars. Some of them are Muslim leaders and some of them are Christian leaders.
It lasted for two days, and the result was very good. Both sides were happy that we did not fight against each other. We can be friends. We can be brothers and sisters.
Then we invite the Muslim leaders to Canada to dialogue with a professor from Trinity Western University, a Christian university. Then both sides feel very happy, and afterward the government feels happy. The government appreciated this dialogue, because it can bring peace and harmony, for harmony is the standard ideal of China now.
They will allow us to have an international conference next time, so next year we are going to have an international conference. We are going to invite a Muslim leader from the Middle East and a Christian leader from the west, from America or Canada. It will be a big conference that brings peace between these two religions.
You are welcome to come also.