CNN TRANSCRIPT: 11/28/06

COLLINS: The pope in Turkey, seeking an ongoing dialogue with Muslims after his controversial comments about Islam. Many say dialogue is the first step toward religious tolerance and understanding. It's also the message of "The Faith Club," the book you see there. Co-authors Ranya Idliby, Suzanne Oliver, and Priscilla Warner are from three different faiths, Islam, Christianity, and Judaism.

They are joining us now. Thanks, ladies, for being with us. It's a fascinating book with a terrific undertone. And, I believe that you believe at least Ronnie, if start with you, that all three of these faiths have the same God.

RANYA IDLIBY, CO-AUTHOR, "THE FAITH CLUB": Absolutely. You know, I came to The Faith Club out of a deep sense of isolation and alienation about the public voice of Islam, the most dominant voice of Islam. And it didn't take me longing to delve into my religion and just find the universal truth and the beauty within it. The fact that Muslims see their religion as the third of the first (INAUDIBLE). The fact that we believe in the virgin birth, we believe in the gospels of (INAUDIBLE) that came down from the skies to save the Israelites. My dialogue was essentially, you know I see it as being a micro-model for the world because my experience was about the need for my Jewish and my Christian friends, the two mothers, to affirm my feelings and to give me recognition as part of the Judeo-Christian tradition.

COLLINS: Well, how did this all come about? Suzanne, let me ask you that question. How did you get together and meet these other women and then decide ultimately that you wanted to write a book about it because it was important enough?

SUZANNE OLIVER, CO-AUTHOR, "THE FAITH CLUB": I met Ranya at the school bus stop. Our daughters started kindergarten together in the fall of 2001 at a time when a lot of New Yorkers and a lot of Americans were interested in finding out more about Islam. And Ranya came to me talking about the one God that we all worship. About Islam tracing its roots to Abraham like Judaism and Christianity.

And with the story of this beautiful miracle that really showed Islam's affirming Judaism and Christianity. And so, I was excited to join her project, which started as a children's book, to spread a message of peace at a time when the differences and misunderstandings within our religions were fueling a lot of the violence that we still see, unfortunately today.

COLLINS: Right, right. Priscilla, tell me, in fact, what is the biggest obstacle that the three religions face.

PRISCILLA WARNER, CO-AUTHOR, "THE FAITH CLUB": I think the fact that people see things in black and white. That they want things to be very clear and from the outset, we saw that there were, once you start talking -- there are a lot of shades of gray. Once we began to embrace those shades of gray, you really start to see the colors forming and the similarities shaping. But people seem to want certitude and in our little faith club, there was a lot of doubt and a lot of pain. And it wasn't an easy journey but in the end, it was well worth it.

COLLINS: And in this time of increased violence, especially over the last couple of days in Iraq in particular, we're looking at the Israeli/Palestinian conflict and the history of Christianity as well. There has been a lot of violence. What do you do about extremists of religion? Ranya?

IDLIBY: I think it's very important to recognize that whenever religion is used as a tactic of war or justify a promise of holy land, it is no longer a religion, but everything to do with the human ideology. And unfortunately, no religion is immune historically to the abuse of a suffering it has been put through through our human hands. And to just, I think, as a Muslim, I really sort of urge the world to recognize that those are minority and that's politics and that's very different from what the faith is and what 1.6 billion Muslims around the world choose to stay within the faith tradition because they revere the prophet as a man of peace.

COLLINS: Suzanne, if you had to rate the way that these three faiths in particular get along and understand each other right now, today, on a scale from one to ten, what would you say?

OLIVER: On an individual level perhaps it's much better than it is on a I suppose, on a macro level. I think we shouldn't put all of our expectations into people like the pope. I think that it's important for to us have a grassroots dialogue, so that we can see that there are things that unite us -- the one God, that we should all love God and love our fellow man, are more important than the things that unite us. So, certainly, if faith clubs start across the country like we hope, we'll get a better score than if they don't.

COLLINS: Priscilla, are you getting evidence of that? Are there people trying to learn, at least to your knowledge, more about other faiths?

WARNER: Absolutely. We are so humbled and grateful for all the people we've been around the country and people come to us and they pour their hearts out. There's a hunger and thirst to this have dialogue and to have this kind of understanding. Someone said to us, you're preaching to the choir. We said, well, the choir is not singing loud enough. We know there are voices out there who want to start talking.

COLLINS: Well, we also know that Pope Benedict XVI is in Turkey. This is a 99 percent Muslim population in that country. But the reason he went there, we must say, is because of sort of a moment to try to repair some relationships or some misunderstandings that occurred after a speech he gave in Germany. Is this a good idea, Ranya?

IDLIBY: I think it's wonderful idea. As long as we can, perhaps, keep this much-needed dialogue to 21st Century issues, issues that are relevant to the fact that Muslims are a reality in Europe and America and beyond. And that there are issues of assimilation, of perhaps a threatened culture. On the other end of the formula and that, you know, together we can work this out. And that through the dialogue and remaining open to the idea that really Muslims want to celebrate their connections to the Judeo-Christian tradition. They see themselves as believing in the same God.

By being open to that, I think we'll be, through our experience in the faith club, as we've discovered, of course, that our humanity and what unites us, is much bigger than what divides us. And that's something to keep in mind. And you can only get there through addressing the divisive issues, we're not saying let's just highlight those good wonderful common issues. By going through the divisive issues, we recognize that essentially most of these issues are about misconceptions or about minorities using religion in a way that we all abhor and would like to remove from their hands.

COLLINS: Well, I certainly hope people will take the opportunity to read your book. It is called "The Faith Club." And to the three of you, Ranya Idliby, Suzanne Oliver, and Priscilla Warner, we appreciate your time here very much.

OLIVER: Thanks so much for having us.

WARNER: Thank you.

IDLIBY: Thank you.

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