Working for peace or the name of God / ROMA has been just over two years since Pope Benedict XVI during his trip to Bavaria, uttered the now famous "speech in Regensburg. The quote made by the Pope during his keynote address at the University of Germany, attributed to the Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaeologus, besieged by the Ottomans in Constantinople during the holy war, was the subject of a bitter dispute with Islam. The sentence stating that "Muhammad would bring only evil and inhuman, such as his to spread by the sword what he preached, "though often taken out of context and magnified by the media, caused outrage among Muslims, which was followed by controversy and strong protests. Since then, the attempt to patch up the already fragile relations between the two religions has gone through various proposals for dialogue, including the letter (entitled "A Common Word Between Us and You") addressed last year by 138 Muslim scholars to the Pope and to Christian religious leaders, which showed the need for universal comparison. Requirement that resulted in the first Catholic-Muslim Forum, organized in Rome by the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, in which 29 members Catholics and Muslims have many discussions on the theme "Love of God, love of neighbor." It was just the dialogue, understood as "humble attitude" towards the other, do dominates interfaith meeting. This was stated in the final conference before a wide audience of scholars and journalists, was Professor Joseph Maila, rector of the 'Institut Catholique de Paris ", a spokesman for the Catholic side:" The dialogue - he explained - is not an exchange of pleasantries, but of beliefs. The spirit that has characterized the past two days has not been to a mutual skepticism that often characterizes it, nor consent to a purely superficial, but a predisposition to approach with humility that leads to the convictions of those before us. " Objective is not always easy, especially in light of mutual prejudices still present in some members of the two religions: "That dialogue - said Ingrid Mattson, president of the Islamic Society of North America - is both a great challenge. There are Muslims and Christians who did not want us here because riunissimo often prevails afraid to communicate with each other. At the same time, the initiative of dialogue has emerged as a necessity, because religion is too often a source of conflict. Hence the need to meet to find common solutions. " If the letter sent by Muslim scholars to Christians was limited to identifying the elements common to the two main sacred texts, the Bible and the Koran, the seminar went further by identifying universal principles, from a sole foundation: God is love and His love is expressed primarily in relationship with others. Pillar, this, from which all the program points of the Declaration presented at the end of the Forum, among them respect for human life, protection of minorities and commitment against terrorism. "Human life - according to the second and third place in the document - is a precious gift of God in every person and the person requires respect for their original dignity and his vocation as human, hence the importance of protecting, on the basis of respect for each other, which "includes the right of individuals and communities to practice their religion in public and in private, religious minorities: "Religious minorities - according to point number 6 - have the right to be respected in their own religious convictions and practices and are entitled to their own places of worship", a theme This, greatly debated during the meeting, in light of the persecution of Christians and Muslims where their minority religions: "The relationship between Catholics and Muslims - explained Cardinal Jean-Louis Turan, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue - are heavily dependent on political circumstances in which Islam is the majority religion, often causing tensions which then reflect on the Christian minorities in Islamic countries " . Tensions that often lead to more terrorist acts: "We profess - says the eleventh paragraph of the Declaration - that Catholics and Muslims are called to be instruments of love and harmony among believers and for all humanity, renouncing any oppression , aggressive violence and terrorism, especially those perpetrated in the name of religion. " These are words that sound strange to those who listen daily to continuous attacks of a religious, despite repeatedly stating Muslims to reject any harm done to Christians and the Christians continue to reach a conciliatory tone in an attempt to make the world, as the Cardinal Turan, "not a jungle but a family." The impression is that, for now, we have reached an agreement mainly on the ethical and justice, rather than the strictly theological, on which differences remain that currently appear insurmountable. Today there is still a fracture on the one hand reassuring words and good intentions, such as the desire to explore these issues at another meeting to be organized in a predominantly Muslim country. Then look at the facts, including the constant cries for those who want to make their voices heard to combat violations of religious freedom. And these days the news that a group of 144 Christians, including 77 Muslim converts, launched an appeal for not to forget the Christian minorities and new converts in Islamic countries. Among the requests of the petitioners that Islamic law does not apply to non-Muslims, it abolished their condition tell me, that is second-class citizens, that freedom to change religion to be recognized as a fundamental right.
CLEAR PRIOR (
LUMSA NEWS)
