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I'm glad to see these two having a talk. Hopefully good things will come out of these discussions.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081104/ts_nm/us_religion_dialogue_2

I'm really interested in this

the most unfortunate part is that these theological and intellectual leaders of the faith do not necessarily have the ability to persuade those in the most extreme camps of their respected religions. It is much easier for Catholics, who have a central authority, though I can see, without much effort, radical catholics who could think the Pope has gone soft on any given edict.

For instance, there was recently a forum that gathered the leading Muslim theologians from throughout the Muslim world to discuss different issues of the faith. Their interpretation of Jihad vs the one that extremists use was radically different, and while it might represent a more progressive Islam that could present itself to the world, it isn't going to influence the extremists.

In a world with Fox News, protests in Toronto because of cartoons published in Denmark, and divisive propaganda coming from self-interested national governments, I am pessimistic about the ability of the intellectual class to affect any change in public perception. I hope I'm wrong, but the fact that there are Muslim voices screaming to be heard in the promotion of peace, plurality and religious tolerance being ignored entirely for minority sentiments of violence doesn't give me much to be hopeful for.

It's sad how Bin Laden has twisted the perception of Islam by erecting his own, sixth pillar through Jihad. Islam is a much more accommodating religion to outsiders and actually compliments a couple of the other religions with its historical commentary.
This large trend of negativity towards Islam will eventually pass, I believe, as globalization grows and geopolitics becomes more widely studied, people may come to realize that the extreme fundamentalism that inspires terrorism is a facade of Islam.

Originally posted by Aequo Animo
This large trend of negativity towards Islam will eventually pass, I believe, as globalization grows and geopolitics becomes more widely studied, people may come to realize that the extreme fundamentalism that inspires terrorism is a facade of Islam.

This is the part I wonder about. I don't know that it is one of those eventualities, as most people in a society are never going to be geopolitical scholars, and lots of things that have been known to scholars in many fields for years are not known to the public. In my own field, psychology, there is a term called "folk psychology" that refer to prevalent and long standing, though incorrect, public conceptions of psychology. I'm only 24, so I don't have a long personal memory of this, so things might be better 20 years from now, but from what I have seen, psychology as a science has had little to no effect on how the general public thinks about psychological issues. My worry is that there may always be a "folk geopolitics".

Like, Muslims make a very good "other" for Western society. I agree globalization will help this, but I remain skeptical. Mainly on this one, because my father, no matter how tolerant and educated he is, can't get over the media perceptions of Muslims, ie: crazies always shooting guns in the air. Maybe he is of a dying breed? I don't know

The Pope has been at this for quite some time and his efforts seem to have won him a fair bit of influence amongst certain Islamic Leaders. Such as Ahmadinejad of Iran.

However, while the informed might warm to the Vatican I feel the vast majority of Muslims will still look at the Regensburg Address and think that that represents the Pope's true feelings on Islam.

An interesting dynamic in all this is that while Benedict gets closer to Islamic teachers he seems to be in consent conflict with the Jewish leadership, especially those of the Orthodox branch and Israel. (Examples being the canonisation process of Pius XII and the resurrection of the Good Friday Prayer.)