Christianity and Islam continue to be the two fastest growing religions in the world. Men and women, Christians and Muslims, are now asking themselves the question: should these two religions collide? Is there no common ground between them? Many Muslims are taught that Christianity seeks to eliminate Islam; that Christians have no knowledge or understanding of their faith; that Christians condemn Islam and hold the teachings of Islamic fundamentalism responsible for most, if not all, terrorist activity throughout the world. Many Christians are taught that Islam teaches the worship of a false God; that Islam spread and still spreads by force and terror; that all Muslims are Arabs and that both oppose U.S. policies and essential elements of democracy. Millions of Christians have been taught for decades that Islam is an intolerant religion, prohibiting the free choice and practice of any religion other than Islam. The vast majority of Western citizens continue to teach, repeat and believe the distortions and prejudices created centuries ago by a European civilization that viewed Islam as the "traditional enemy." False images of Islam have been formed by literary narratives and given in exotic ways. sinister coloring in lurid tales of harem intrigue, voluptuous skies and dangerous kasbahs. Textbooks on European civilization past and present presented Islam as the religion that ended the ancient centers of early Christianity in the Middle East and North Africa, replaced Christian Constantinople in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Balkans and occupied Spain for almost 900 years. Somehow the fruitful scientific collaboration and theological discussions that took place in Baghdad in the 9th and 10th centuries, where Christians and Muslim scholars worked together to translate and comment on Greek philosophy and science, are forgotten and forgotten. Overlooked is the fact that under Norse rule in Sicily the first translation of Arabic philosophy was made, which would have had a profound effect and influence on the works of Albert the Great and the famous Christian scholar Thomas Aquinas . Forgotten and omitted are the myriad historical works. stories of Christians and Muslims living and working together for the common good of their societies, as evidenced in the 9th century by Francis of Assisi's visit to the Mamluk sultan in Egypt at the height of the Crusades, and the dialogues between Christians in the 16th century and Muslim scholars organized on the initiative of the Mughal emperor Akbar in modern India and Pakistan.