Since the establishment of modern nation states, Christians and Muslims alike have been challenged to balance the relation between religious, cultural and national identity.

In terms of legal rights, the question of national identity corresponds to that of equal citizenship. The question of citizenship must be dealt with in the light of the specific historical experiences of different nations. In Christian-Muslim dialogue, there should be a greater deal of sharing of different national experiences.

Citizen rights are also related to but must nevertheless be distinguished from human rights. Universal human rights must not be violated but are rather supposed to be protected by states. But nation states may add certain conditions and lay down specific regulations for how to obtain citizenship and the full political rights that come with it. More important, however, are the positive rights that should accompany any notion of citizenship, such as equality, political participation, the right to be consulted, and resource sharing. The right to citizenship should also be regarded as a human right that must be respected once the formal requirements of citizenship are met, instead of being left to the unqualified discretion of the state authorities.

As Christians and Muslims, we affirm the fundamental value of human dignity that is central to our scriptural and theological traditions and underlies our various perceptions of human rights. As Muslims and Christians, we therefore affirm the fundamental rights of persons and groups that are stated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the subsequent conventions adopted by the United Nations. These fundamental human rights range from the rights of subsistence and democratic representation to rights such as freedom of religion, expression and association. We also reiterate our common conviction that in both a moral and legal perspective, rights must always be supplemented by duties. For instance, citizenship rights correspond with the duty to observe the rules of the state, to support the community and to defend the nation.

The question of human and citizen rights is also related to the wider issue of religion, state and society. Here, sweeping generalisations still need to be challenged. It is often said that in Islam, there is no separation between religion and state, whereas secularism is often supposed to be the underlying premise of the Western distinction between religion and politics. Reality is more complicated. In Islam, a full identification of state and religion has neither been agreed upon nor practiced universally. Also in states with a Christian majority, there are in fact many modalities of church-state relations (both in the West and worldwide). Furthermore, there is a need to distinguish between secularism as an anti-religious ideology and the principle of the secular (i.e., non-confessional) state.

Although a clear distinction (but not necessarily a full separation) between religion and state should be made, we also affirm our conviction that religion must be regarded as a matter of public importance and not merely as a private matter. The moral formation of the individual and the values of society need to be supported and nourished by religion, and the moral values that religions uphold should never be separated from politics.

As for the concept of citizenship, some would contend that being a citizen means belonging to a community which is not defined by religion but rather by geographical area and political government. Others would affirm the right of the state to define itself by reference to a specific cultural and religious heritage, provided that the state does not in any way violate the rights of the others to full political participation and freedom of religion. The implications of these two different approaches to state and religion need further discussion both between Muslims and Christians and within the ranks of both communities.

The question of state, religion and citizenship entails also the question of how individual rights and group rights should be balanced. In the Islamic tradition, certain political and religious rights were granted already in the classical period to the People of the Book (the ahl al-kitab). In Western societies, the principle of religious freedom was only applied at a much later stage. Once introduced, however, it was linked with the inviolable right of the individual rather than with group rights. But group rights have played a role also in the cultural and political practices of modern Western societies, while certain individual rights have been laid down right from the beginning of Islam (e.g., as reflected in the right of the individual to choose his or her madhab).

The relation between individual and group rights needs further consideration by both Muslims and Christians, in dialogues and deliberations that need to be sensitive to context. In some contexts, a system of group rights and affirmative action towards minorities has helped to protect Christians, Muslims and other vulnerable groups from discrimination on the part of the majority group. But in many cases, group rights have only been granted to certain religious communities whereas others have not been recognised and have hence been discriminated against. When associated with political representation (for instance, by way of reserving seats in parliament for certain religious minorities) a system of group rights may also lead to a general marginalisation of minorities. In light of this problem, many would say that group rights should only be applied in the cultural field, whereas political rights should refer to the individual only. In the cultural field, religious communities should (as a general rule) enjoy the freedom to organise themselves according to their own values and convictions, as long as their practices do not threaten public order or the life and health of the individual.

Although different arrangements of individual and group rights may be justified in different contexts, group rights will always have to be balanced by the right of every individual to opt in and out of religious communities. In this sense, religious rights are different from the rights of ethnic groups or national minorities. As adherents of missionary religions with a universal message, Muslims and Christians together should affirm the right of every person to change his or her religion, without sanctions of any kind regarding citizenship and political rights. This common affirmation takes away nothing from the mutual obligation and right to avoid and resist any kind of manipulation of religious identities.

Citizenship is not merely a legal issue: it has to do with social virtue, a vibrant civil society and a true political democracy. In our common support for equal citizenship rights in the legal field - without any discrimination based on gender, race, caste, social status, ethnicity or religion - we also affirm the necessity of fostering a spirit of co-citizenship through civic education, neighbourly interaction and active political participation.

Proposals for common action in the next five years:

  • Formal recognition of the right to citizenship and sharing of national experiences
    • The right to citizenship should be formally inscribed in international conventions as a fundamental human right. In order to achieve this aim, there needs to be co-operation between Christian and Muslim organizations, other NGOs and governments.
    • There should be a greater deal of sharing of different national experiences regarding equal citizenship. The question of participatory societies should also be a central concern in Christian-Muslim dialogues.
  • Further exploration of the relation between religion, state and society
    • Muslims and Christian should join efforts in exploring how religion can be recognised as matter of public importance without being relegated to the private sphere or misused for political purposes
    • We should further explore whether the alleged differences between Islamic and Christian approaches to religion, state and society correspond to reality or rather constitute a shared challenge
    • To enable such sharing and exploration, inter-religious bodies should be established on the local levels - in addition to the existing national and international ones.