A Muslim and a Christian were talking . . . but seriously, folks . . .

Navid Kermani and Martin Mosebach
Photo by Julian Baumann
Süddeutsche Zeitung Magazin

The Catholic journal First Things has published an interview by Tobias Haberl with a Muslim and a Catholic - Navid Kermani and Martin Mosebach, respectively - that the Süddeutsche Zeitung Magazin first printed in German.

The English translation is by Kevin Gallagher, who rendered the title "'Of Course Religion is First and Foremost a Duty': Navid Kermani and Martin Mosebach on Christianity, Islam, and Art" (January 20, 2016).

The interview is sort of interesting, though I must confess to having skimmed much of the text. I should read the interview more closely, I realize, and try to learn more about the two since they're both successful writers. I did pay closer attention when the topic was visits to mosques and churches, and the interviewer asked the Catholic Mosebach this question:

Do you pray in mosques, Mr. Mosebach?

Mosebach answered:

Naturally.

To which he added, by way of clarification:

Do you know the Jesuit joke? "May one smoke while praying? No. May one pray while smoking? Of course."

This joke alone made my time spent with the article well worth the effort, for me, anyway. Maybe I should read the whole article more closely . . .