Stop The Presses: Christians And Muslims Worked Together On Christmas Food Drive

London, UK – Based on a mutual spirit of giving, members of the London Muslim mosque and a Roman Catholic church banded together this holiday season for a Christmas food drive that benefited more than 100 families.

“I feel extremely pleased and grateful, looking around this room,” said Moe Lacerte looking across the donations gathered at St. John the Divine Catholic Church. “We’ve never had so much to give. We will have extra; we’ll be able to replenish our food bank here.”

The London Free Press reports that Larcerte, the volunteer president of the St. Vincent de Paul conference at the church, reached out to the Muslim mosque for the first time this year in an effort to collaborate on community relief.

“We all want the same things: peace and respect, and I see this as a beginning of working together.”

Members of the mosque were overjoyed to be included in the food drive, said Ali D. Chahbar, who helped organize the partnership.

“To us, the spirit of Christmas is the spirit of brotherly love, and why wouldn’t we want to be a part of it?”

“It is so nice,” he continued. “People are really different. They are nicer and you notice it. I wanted to get a megaphone and shout ‘Can we keep this going all year, people?’ ”

“We are not Christians and don’t celebrate Christmas but we are engulfed by the spirit and . . . any time there’s a jubilant harmonious feeling, whatever creed it is under, we thrive on it,” he concluded.

Though rare, Christians and Muslims across the world have been able to occasionally put aside their differences and work together for the greater good. AsiaNews reported on a 2007 collaboration between Christians and Muslims in the Philippines to spread peace in the region of Mindanao. Members of both religions volunteered their services during the holy days of each respective religion.

What do you think? Can Christians and Muslims work together more often?