A VICAR has called for Christians to foster relationships with people from other faiths following the terrorist atrocities in America.

The Rev John Birbeck, of All Hallows and St John's, Hurst Green, said that friction between faiths was caused by people refusing to take a risk and a reluctance to welcome relationships with others.

He added that more tolerance would see a closer world community, better prepared to decide what action should be taken against terrorists.

He also asked Christians to pray for leaders, such as Tony Blair and George Bush, faced with making many immense decisions in the coming months.

"We are called to risk our faith," he said, "to meet and welcome relationships with others. Isolationism is self-defeating because it leaves people and nations out of touch with the majority. Then we wake up one morning and find ourselves in trouble.

"It is important to track down and bring to justice these present day 'pirates' but even more important for America to be seen to be acting impartially and respectfully by all, especially Muslims.

"Christians have a responsibility to foster and encourage relationships with people of other faiths.

"Learning about other faiths, especially Islam and Judaism, will help us see how truly wonderful is our own. We need not fear that Christianity will not measure up.

"The Muslim world with its strong ideological and spiritual foundation rooted in the Islamic faith has been seen to offer an alternative way of living, albeit to Western eyes, one that seems harsh and unproductive.

"However living by their book enables such societies to cohere and work together.

"In contrast many Western democracies are finding that support from within for their own electoral systems is decaying.

"Every society needs to ensure that the great majority of people are stakeholders within it. Otherwise outside threats quickly come forward to destabilise and destroy."