Interfaith dialogue and peace-building training in the Philippines proves that religions and ethnicity need not be at odds.

When Samuel P. Huntington published The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of the World Order in 1996, the book quickly became a bestseller. Huntington, a Harvard political scientist, theorized that since Christianity and Islam are so different from one another, they are on an almost inevitable collision course. Many see the events of 11 September 2001 as proof of Huntington’s thesis.

But are Islam and Christianity really on an inevitable collision course? This was the question Ustadz Aliasa Alinog asked us as we sat and shared the uniquely exquisite taste of a freshly picked marang fruit to mark the Iftar (the breaking of the fast) at the end of another day of the fast during Ramadan, the Islamic month of fasting.