Cardinal Vincent Nichols and Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis have warned that it is becoming increasingly difficult to voice opinions based in faith.
The men, speaking in The Telegraph, referred to social and political issues like assisted dying or family values, saying that believers can be seen to be narrow-minded and unsophisticated.
The "brazen persecution" of Christian, Muslim and Jewish minorities in different regions of the world was also referenced as "one of the most pressing and shameful issues of our time."
They preached greater tolerance and acceptance of one another.
Cardinal Nichols and Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis sent the message as Jewish and Catholic communities prepare to remember the fiftieth anniversary of Nostra Aetate, meaning "in our time".
They said the relations between the communities today should be applied to a "new but no less troubling set of global issues."
Both agreed that to be a person of faith can itself be "an act of courage."
Listen to Premier's Antony Bushfield interview Guy Brandon, from the Jubliee Centre, that publishes Christian papers on Premier's News Hour here:
