The fallout over
Pope Benedict XVI’s comments on Islam and violence during a Sept. 12, 2006,
lecture in Germany may have done serious damage to relations between the Catholic
Church and global Islam, in addition to inflaming tensions between Muslims and
Christians of every denomination. The story could grow more complex in the coming
weeks because Benedict is scheduled to visit Turkey from Nov. 28-Dec. 1. The
pope’s trip is principally an ecumenical visit to the Eastern Orthodox Patriarch
of Constantinople, with a brief visit to the small community of Catholics in
the region. Because the patriarch is based in the Turkish city now known as
Istanbul, and because Benedict’s comments referred to a 14th-century
episode during a war between Christians and Muslims over Constantinople, Turkey
has been a focus of the controversy.
Experts say there
are many other aspects of the uproar, ranging from renewed questions over the
“clash of civilizations” theory to concerns about relations between Christians
and Muslims at the local level. As the controversy over the pope’s remarks grew,
the nation’s leading Islamic rights group released a report
claiming that incidents of discrimination against Muslims in the United States
had spiked 30 percent in 2005.
Experts also note
that the comments by Benedict – who is an academic theologian as well as a head
of state -- involve two separate, but often entwined issues. One is a theological
discussion about violence and religion, including what sacred texts and traditions
say in that regard. That issue tends to be the focus of interreligious dialogues.
The other issue concerns efforts to halt violence committed by religious believers,
which tends to involve questions of international politics, diplomacy and human
rights.
Journalists will
find many avenues for stories, including the importance of Christian-Muslim
relations in local, national and global arenas; tensions within interfaith groups,
many of which have become more active since the 2001 terrorist attacks; conflicting
attitudes toward other faiths within both Christianity and Islam; and, of course,
the effect on perceptions of Pope Benedict himself.
Why it matters
Catholics and Muslims
constitute communities of more than 1 billion believers each, and relations
between them are widely viewed as a critical bellwether for the state of religious
dialogue. They also provide a crucial point of contact between the West and
the Islamic world. Despite frequent restrictions and attacks against Christians
in many Muslim countries, Catholics and Muslims have had a relatively constructive
dialogue in recent years and have often found themselves as allies at international
gatherings. Experts say that the fallout from Benedict’s speech could change
that delicate dynamic.
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the map for interview sources
in your state and region
National and
international sources
U.S.
CONFERENCE OF CATHOLIC BISHOPS RESOURCES
• The U.S.
Conference of Catholic Bishops has sponsored regional dialogues between Catholics
and Muslims since 2000. The Rev. Francis V. Tiso, associate director of the
Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, directs the bishops’
dialogue with Islam. Contact 202-541-3020, ftiso@usccb.org, or through the USCCB communications
office, 202-541-3200.
• Mid-Atlantic
region: See a 2006
report about the Mid-Atlantic dialogue and its participants, and read
a March
29, 2006, Catholic News Service story about the dialogue, which has
been going on for six years. The dialogue began in 1998. Co-chairmen are
Khurshid Khan, president of the Islamic Circle of North America, and Auxiliary
Bishop Denis J. Madden of Baltimore.
•
West Coast: See a 2003
report that lists participants in the California meetings. The dialogue
began in 2000.
•
Midwest: The dialogue, co-sponsored by ISNA, began in 1996.
• See a list
of members of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee for Ecumenical
and Interreligious Affairs, which includes bishops from around the nation.
• See
a resource page
with essays on Muslim-Catholic dialogue.
• Catholic-Muslim Dialogue Day is observed each year on Feb. 24. It was established
in 2000 by the Vatican-Muslim Committee, a joint venture by the Pontifical Council
for Interreligious Dialogue and the Permanent Committee of al-Azhar for Dialogue
with Monotheistic Religions. Read a March
2004 article about Catholic-Muslim Dialogue Day from the Muslim American Society.
• Read
a 2003 report
on Catholic-Muslim dialogueand activities from John Borelli of the Secretariat
for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs.
INTERFAITH
ORGANIZATIONS • Elinor
J. Pierce is research director of the Pluralism Project, based at
Harvard University. The center studies the nation's growing religious diversity
and lists
more than 600 interfaith organizations on its web site. Contact 617-496-2481.
• Ron
Young is executive director of the U.S.
Interreligious Committee for Peace in the Middle East, a national organization
of 2,500 American Jews, Christians and Muslims that is based in Stanwood, Wash.
The committee carries on programs nationwide on dialogue, education and advocacy
in support of U.S. policies in the Middle East. Contact 360-652-4285, usicpme@aol.com.
• The
Rev. Shanta Premawardhana is associate general secretary for interfaith relations
of National Council of Churches.
The NCC represents Protestant, Anglican, Orthodox, historic African-American
and Peace churches and engages in interfaith dialogue. Contact 212-870-2560,
Shanta@ncccusa.org.
• The
North American Interfaith Network
is a nonprofit association of interfaith organizations and agencies in the United
States, Canada and Mexico. Contact Vice Chairman Kay Lindahl, 949-661-3087,
Kay@sacredlistening.com.
• The
Interfaith Center
of New York is an educational nonprofit dedicated to understanding and cooperation
among faiths. The center works with a wide variety of religious leaders. Contact
program director Matt Weiner, 212-685-4242 ext. 31, Gotoku@aol.com.
• The
Interfaith Alliance
represents more than 75 faith traditions and has more than 150,000 members in
38 states. Contact President Welton Gaddy, 202-639-6370.
• The
Council for a Parliament of the
World’s Religions, based in Chicago, sponsors interfaith dialogue and encourages
cooperation among religious and spiritual communities and institutions. Contact
312-629-2990.
• The
United Religions Initiative, based in San Francisco, promotes
interfaith cooperation and ending religiously motivated violence. It has "cooperation
circles" around the globe. Contact 415-561-2300.
MUSLIM
SOURCES
• Amir
Hussain is author of Oil and Water: Two Faiths, One God (Wood Lake
Books, 2006) in which he identifies the key points for dialogue between Christians
and Muslims and discusses the practical aspects of interfaith dialogue. He is
an associate professor in the department of theological studies at Loyola Marymount
University in Los Angeles. Contact 310-338-5987, amir.hussain@lmu.edu.
• Dr.
Sayyid M. Syeed is secretary-general of the Islamic Society of North America,
the largest Muslim organization in America. Read its Sept.
18, 2006, condemnation of the pope’s comments. Contact 317-839-8157 ext.
222.
• The
Minaret of Freedom
Institute, based in Bethesda, Md., conducts independent scholarly research
into issues involving Islam in the U.S. and policy issues affecting Muslim countries.
The institute's emphasis is on Islam, freedom and free markets, and the political
and economic implications of Islamic law. Contact Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad, 301-907-0947,
mfi@minerat.org.
• The
Center for the Study
of Islam and Democracy in Washington, D.C., is a 7-year-old think tank with
the aim of furthering Islamic discourse on a modern Islamic democracy. Contact
its president, Radwan Masmoudi, 202-942-2183, masmoudi@islam-democracy.org.
• Nihad
Awad is executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
Contact through Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair-net.org.
• Salam
Al-Marayati is executive director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council.
Contact 213-383-3443, salam@mpac.org.
CATHOLIC
SOURCES
• James
A. Donahueis president of the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley,
Calif., and an expert on interfaith theological dialogue. He has spoken in interviews
about the crisis over the pope’s remarks. Contact 510-649-2410, jdonahue@gtu.edu.
• The
Rev. Francis X. Clooney, SJ, is a Jesuit priest and the Parkman Professor of
Divinity at Harvard University. He wrote an Oct. 21, 2005, article for Commonweal
magazine about the pope’s approach to interfaith dialogue titled "Dialogue
Not Monologue: Benedict XVI & Religious Pluralism." Clooney is currently
on leave but can be contacted through his assistant, Eric
Unverzagt, at 607-496-2779, eric_unverzagt@harvard.edu.
• The
Rev. Drew Christiansen, SJ, is a Jesuit priest and editor in chief of America
magazine in New York. Christiansen is a longtime adviser to the Catholic bishops
of the United States on international affairs, with an emphasis on the Middle
East, where he spent many years. Contact 212-515-0106.
• John
Borelli is special assistant to the president for interreligious initiatives
at Georgetown University. He has been a longtime leader in Catholic dialogue
with other religions, especially Islam. For 16 years he was associate director
of the Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs at the U. S. Conference
of Catholic Bishops. Contact 202-687-4936.
• The
Rev. Patrick J. Ryan, SJ, is a Jesuit priest at Fordham University in New York,
where he serves as vice president for mission and ministry. Ryan is an expert
on Islam and the tensions with the West. Contact 718-817-3013, 212-636-7584,
or ryansj@fordham.edu.
OTHER
CHRISTIAN LEADERS
• Ted
Haggard is head of the 30 million-member National
Association of Evangelicals and pastor of New
Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colo. He is one of several evangelical
leaders who called for evangelicals to temper their language about Islam. (See
an Associated
Press story posted on Beliefnet.) Contact 719-268-8214.
• Frank
Page is president of the Southern Baptist Convention, which has 16 million
members worldwide. Contact through Kenyn Cureton, vice president for convention
relations, 615-782-8610, kcureton@sbc.net.
• Johan
Candelin is executive director of the Religious Liberty Commission of the World
Evangelical Alliance, a network of churches in 127 countries. He can talk
about how relations between Christians and Muslims affect Christians and Christian
missionaries in other countries. Contact candelin@kolumbus.fi
or through the press office, 202-223-7556.
• Carl
A. Moeller is president and CEO of Open
Doors USA, which supports persecuted Christians in 60 countries. It’s based
in Santa Ana, Calif. Contact 949-752-6600.
Chronology
The following is
a brief chronology of the major events in the uproar over Pope Benedict’s remarks
about Islam:
Tuesday,
Sept. 12, 2006: During a homecoming visit to his native
Bavaria, Benedict delivers a lecture
at the University of Regensburg, where he once taught theology.
Thursday,
Sept. 14: As Muslim protests increase, Vatican spokesman, the Rev.
Federico Lombardi, issues a statement
declaring that “It was certainly not the intention of the Holy Father
to undertake a comprehensive study of the jihad and of Muslim ideas on
the subject, still less to offend the sensibilities of Muslim faithful.”
Saturday,
Sept. 16: Benedict’s newly appointed secretary of state, Italian Cardinal
Tarcisio Bertone, issues another statement
that attempts to clarify the pope’s remarks.
Sunday,
Sept. 17: With Muslim anger still apparent and a number of violent
attacks apparently linked to the pope’s comments, Benedict uses his noontime
Angelus address at his summer villa at Castelgandolfo to apologize
for “the reactions in some countries to a few passages of my address at
the University of Regensburg, which were considered offensive to the sensibility
of Muslims. These in fact were a quotation from a Medieval text, which
do not in any way express my personal thought.” Debate continues over
whether this expression of regret was sufficient.
Wednesday,
Sept. 20: At his mid-week General Audience, open to the public, Benedict
once again says that he believes his lecture was misunderstood and that
in fact he has "profound respect" for Muslims. The Vatican posted
the full text in Italian
and a synthesis of his remarks in English.
ARTICLES
• News articles related to the pope’s comments are posted at ReligionHeadlines.org,
a free service from Religion Newswriters.
• See
a Sept.
19, 2006, Catholic News Service story in which Catholic leaders say Pope
Benedict’s comments will not stop Catholic-Muslim dialogue.
• Listen
to an April
7, 2005, Morning Edition report from National Public Radio about
how Pope Benedict takes a less conciliatory approach to Islam than did his predecessor.
• In
2004, the Joint Committee of the Permanent Committee of al-Azhar for Dialogue
with the Monotheistic Religions and the Pontifical Council for Interreligious
Dialogue called on Catholics and Muslims to “avoid generalizations in their
mutual relations and to make room for more self-criticism.” Read a March
8, 2004, Worldwide Religious News article.
• Read
a March
29, 2001, BBC report about Pope John Paul II becoming the first pope to
visit a mosque.
SURVEYS
AND RESOURCES
• See the 2006
annual report (in a PDF format) on discrimination against Muslims released
by the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
• See the 2006
International Religious Freedom Report from the U.S. State Department.
• PollingReport.com posts surveys on its religion
page, including surveys about attitudes toward Islam.
• On
Aug. 18, 2006, in anticipation of the fifth anniversary of 9/11, the Pew Forum
on Religion & Public Life interviewed the author of the “clash of civilizations”
idea, political scientist Samuel P. Huntington. The Pew Forum posts a transcript
of the conversation. Four days later, it interviewed Akbar Ahmed, the Ibn
Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies and professor of International Relations at
American University in Washington, D.C. Ahmed’s books include After Terror:
Promoting Dialogue among Civilizations (Polity Press, 2005). The transcript
of the conversation is titled “Dialogue with Islam Cause for Hope.”
• Read
the transcript of an April 27, 2006, Pew panel titled “Islam
and the West: A Conversation with Bernard Lewis,” an interview with one
of the leading scholars and critics of Islam.
• Read
the transcript
of a July 10, 2006, Pew Forum panel exploring the results of an international
survey “focusing on Muslim and Western perceptions of each other and on the
Muslim experience in Europe.” The panel, titled “Islam and the West: How Great
a Divide?” featured Amaney Jamal, assistant professor in the department of politics
at Princeton University and a specialist in the study of Muslim public opinion.
