The Vatican´s New Realism about Islam

Abu@theVatican?, Dienstag, 11. November 2003, 01:00 (vor 7858 Tagen) @ Nora

by Diana West

November 10, 2003

"...Here´s the point: For the first time in almost
30 years, a source close to the heart of the
Catholic Church (articles in La Civilta Cattolica
are approved by the secretary of state of the
Vatican) has published what Vatican-watcher Sandro
Magister calls "a strikingly severe" account of
the Christian condition under Islamic rule. The
article may represent a shift, if not a break, in
the long-standing Vatican policy of silence on the
persecution of Christians in Muslim countries.

The article highlights the "seemingly rather
curious fact" that wherever Islam has imposed
itself by conquest -- in what is now Egypt, Libya,
Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan,
Turkey, and in the regions of historic Mesopotamia
and Palestine -- "Christianity, which had been
extraordinarily vigorous and rooted for centuries,
practically disappeared." And, the article further
notes, "for almost a thousand years, Europe was
under constant threat from Islam, which twice put
its survival in serious danger."

The explanation? As if taking a page from the
historian Bat Ye´or, the article cites the Islamic
precepts of jihad (holy war) and dhimmitude
(inferior status of non-Muslims). It also
stipulates that there are two meanings of jihad --
the spiritual war, or struggle, to be faithful to
the teachings of the Koran, and the literal war
that is waged to spread Islam. Both meanings, it
says, are "equally essential and must not be
dissociated, as if one could exist without the
other." The article continues: "Obedience to the
precept of ´holy war´ explains why the history of
Islam is one of unending warfare for the conquest
of infidel lands." This same "obedience" has led
to recent anti-Christian violence in Algeria,
Pakistan, Nigeria, Java, East Timor, the Moluccas
and, most dramatically, Sudan. Little wonder, as
the article also reports, that between roughly
one-quarter and one-third of the estimated
Christian population of the Middle East has
emigrated over the past decade to the free world.

".. .I personally welcome the greater
straightforwardness evident in these statements,"
said Richard John Neuhaus, a Catholic priest and
editor of First Things magazine. "Of course, we
are committed to (interfaith) dialogue, but we ask
our Muslim interlocutors to take seriously some of
the difficulties posed by Islam." As examples, he
listed Islam´s failure to allow religious freedom,
its persecution of Christian minorities and its
hateful attitude toward Jews. Dialogue, Neuhaus
said, "cannot be purchased at the price of telling
the truth...""

Nina Shea, director of the Center for Religious
Freedom at Freedom House, suggests that the new
frankness in Rome may be linked to the
increasingly dire plight of Christians at the
hands of Muslims in Sudan, Nigeria and other parts
of Africa. The situation in Europe, where
immigration policies have created large,
unassimilated Muslim communities within
traditionally Christian, secular societies, could
also be influencing Vatican thinking. "Before the
1990s," Ms. Shea said, "the biggest persecutors of
Christians were communist countries." With the
fall of the Soviet Union, radical Islam took
communism´s place. "We´re still very naive," she
said. "We need to educate people."

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/dianawest/print
dw20031110.shtml