HRH Prince Gharios El Chemor joined spiritual leaders representing Christians and Muslims from around the world in the Masjid Muhammad, the Nation’s Mosque, in Washington, DC on July 13 to discuss relations between the two communities and celebrate the launch of a book titled, God Needs No Defense: Reimagining Muslim – Christian Relations in the 21st Century.

The main organizations behind the event were Indonesia’s Nahdlatul Ulama, the world’s largest Muslim organization; and the World Evangelical Alliance, a network of churches which represent 600 million evangelical Christians, lead by Dr. Thomas Schirrmacher, Secretary General/CEO of the World Evangelical Alliance, currently the second Christian leader in the world, second only to the Catholic Pope.

Imam Talib M. Shareef, President of the Masjid Muhammad, the organization hosting the event, pointed to the fact that “We are one human family under Almighty God” as a reason to recast Muslim-Christian relations, which have been strained by various conflicts in history.

The event closed with a signing of the Nation’s Mosque Statement by representatives of the three sponsoring organizations, HRH Prince Gharios El Chemor, the only secular Christian leader in the Middle East with historical legitimacy (according to the Global Imams Council, the largest non-governmental body of Muslim leaders) and other religious leaders in the audience.

The statement reads: “Spiritual leaders of Indonesia’s Nahdlatul Ulama, the world’s largest Muslim organization; the World Evangelical Alliance which represents 600 million protestants in 140 countries; and Masjid Muhammad, The Nation’s Mosque, a community of the late Imam W. Deen Mohammed, in Washington, DC, the first mosque in the United States built by descendants of enslaved African Americans, call upon people of good will of every faith and nation to join in building a global alliance founded upon shared civilizational values. This global alliance seeks to prevent the political weaponization of identity, curtail the spread of communal hatred, promote solidarity and respect among the diverse people, cultures, and nations of the world, and foster the emergence of a truly just and harmonious world order founded upon respect for the equal rights and dignity of every human being.”