Thank you Father John and Church of The Ascension Roman Catholic Church for hosting the recent Islam Forum.

Islam and Muslims are a very controversial subject, particularly right now, and you will receive some negative comments, so thank you for your courage and bold leadership. This world will never achieve peace until the religions of the world learn to tolerate and respect each other. You have furthered this cause.

Thanks also to Pastors Robert Halsey and Jerry Ebbinga of New Journey Lutheran Church and Pastor David Felten of The Fountains United Methodist Church and other denominations affiliated with The Fountain Hills Interfaith Alliance for assisting with this forum.

It was obvious that the capacity crowd was very attentive and receptive to the dialogue with Imam Anas Hlayel, Azra Hussain and Muma All, from the Muslim speakers bureau. Even the few protesters were courteous in their questions.

One conclusion I reached is that to interpret and understand the Muslim Koran, just like the Christian Bible, one must be mindful of the culture, history and environment existing at the time the texts were written.

Otherwise there is a lot of misinterpretation and misunderstanding which leads to suspicion and fear.

Father John, I admire your Pope Francis and I think he would endorse your actions.