Fists of Affection - Father Dave & Sheikh Mansour

http://www.fatherdave.org This 3-minute documentary was put together by my friend (and fellow Holy Trinity parishioner) Dave Mitchell.

Dave's interest was in my friendship with Sheikh Mansour - our local Islamic cleric. He wanted to know how - in the midst of so much nation-wide Islamophobia - the two of us ever became friends.

This is a low-budget doco, but I think Dave did a magnificent job in getting the message through. And the message is this: that Christians and Muslims can be friends.

I do believe that prejudice is always based on ignorance, and in this case the media has done a great job of reinforcing stereotypes and maintaining ignorance.

Change begins when we move beyond talking about our Muslim neighbours and start talking to them. That's what I discovered, and that's the story behind 'Fists of Affection'