God is seen as providing divine sanction for the most horrendous violence

Children of Abraham at War Talmiz Ahmad

Messianic belief has been central to the three Semitic religious traditions since their inception and it has remained a vibrant force throughout their history.  While providing comfort in times of crises and calamities, Messianic movements also demonise the enemy, seeing him as Satan or Antichrist.  In this conflict with evil, God is seen as providing divine sanction for the perpetration of the most horrendous violence against the "Other", which is identified as a collective enemy among whom "no-one is innocent."

Children of Abraham

Since 2004, Children of Abraham has been facilitating dialogue and connecting Muslim and Jewish young people from all over the world using a range of emerging online technologies. The program features guided thematic exploration of each other’s communities using Wiki, photography and discussion boards aimed at building mutual respect through understanding.

Core Values

Dialogue, Discovery, Respect

Mission

Host the first on-line community for the world’s Jewish and Muslim students to spend time together.

Restore a more comprehensive relationship between these two ancient peoples and honor our common heritage, reaffirming the essential principles that lie at the heart of our faiths.

Political Stance

We acknowledge and realize that relations between Muslims and Jews have a long and ancient tradition of respect and peaceful coexistence, as exemplified by what Jewish historians refer to as the Golden Age of Spain, from the tenth through twelfth centuries living under Islamic rule in al-Andalus. 

Only in the recent past have relations been tainted with hatred, mistrust and misperceptions, in part, due to the Palestinian/Israeli Conflict. Some Muslims view the Israeli settlements and control of East Jerusalem and the West Bank as an unjust occupation of the Holy Land. Jews openly debate these issues too. Some oppose and some support the creation of a Palestinian state in the occupied territories. Our Abrahamic origins require us to be helpful in articulating the principles that support our work. Even when such a conflict continues to cause suffering for all involved, we believe that we can serve as role models for open dialogue among and between our two peoples.

Children of Abraham is neither a political pressure group nor a focus group for Palestine-Israel relations. We are a people-to-people organization whose mission is to work with youth. It is entirely consistent with our principles to express our support for the non-violent, peaceful and just resolution of this conflict (or any other). Since both Islam and Judaism espouse the sanctity of life and the peaceful resolution of conflict, we support negotiation and dialogue as the best way to end the conflict on peaceful and just terms for all people.

As an educational organization, we invite all kinds of people to participate in honest discussion and to discover who the "other" is. 

We take the view that if we allow our youth to get to know each other as human beings rather than as enemies – they may learn from each other the differences and similarities between their religions, traditions and cultures. We aim to help build a generation of Jews and Muslims who have mutual respect for two great religions that share the same Abrahamic root. We are building the bridge where our children can walk together with dignity and respect. We must remember that we create our own realities by the choices we make in the moment. We serve as a platform for these two communities to interact with each other without fear.