REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA - Islam and Christian must cooperate and work hand in hand to create long lasting peace. Muhammadiyah believes that Islam and Christian are peaceful religions.
"Both religions teach and spread theory peacefully," Secretary of Muhammadiyah Central Board, Abdul Mu'ti, said during the Conference of Muslim - Christian Religious Leaders of Asia on Tuesday. He hopes both worshipers to learn about the past experience when Islam and Christian walk side by side.
Understanding each other is better than developing narrow view, he said. Muslim and Christian can hand in hand to find solution for humanitarian problems, such as poverty, climate changing, and other problems, particularly in Asia, home of Islam and Christian.
Professor of Universitas Islam Negeri (UIN) Syarif Hidayatullah, Azyumardi Azra, said religion sat on the important place in a community. He urges both worshipers to tolerate each other as religion is able to solve any problems.
Martin L Sinaga from Simalungun Protestant Christian Church said greedy could spoil inter-religious solidarity. Greedy can appear in economy and politics, but Islam and Christian have solution to tackle such problems.
Islam knows Islamic economic system that encourages Muslim to share with each other through zakat. Meanwhile, Christian has Credit Union (CU), a financial institution that does not seek profit.