Catholics and Muslims

The Tablet
February 11, 2006

Editorial:  A gulf that Catholics can bridge

The self-appointed Chief Inquisitor of Religions, Richard Dawkins, presented a series of television programmes recently in which he dismissed and derided various religious fundamentalists. By treating them as if they were representative of the whole, he was able to persuade himself that it was religion per se he had exposed as absurd, not just extreme and distorted expressions of it. A certain truth was unwittingly revealed by his efforts: secular fundamentalists like himself need religious antagonists with equally closed minds. The current row about the Danish cartoons that ridiculed the prophet Muhammad must please him immensely, for the reaction is exactly what he needs to prove his point. The burning of embassies abroad and the carrying of placards on London streets containing the words “Kill” or “Death to …” only add to the impression that Islam is irrational, absurd and dangerous.

This week’s conviction of the Egyptian-born imam Abu Hamza al-Masri at the Old Bailey for incitement to murder and other similar offences fits this picture entirely. In vain do the great majority of Muslims and their leaders cry “Not in our name!” Thus does the gulf of mutual incomprehension and distrust grow ever wider.

But it must be bridged, if the degree of harmony necessary to social cohesion is to survive. That places a special responsibility on the shoulders of those in the West who have not in principle closed their minds to the claims of religion, and can reach out to understand and explain what Muslims in Britain must be feeling. Catholics and Jews, because of their own experience as minority religions which have not always been popular, have a particular role in this; and Catholics being the more numerous, have the greater responsibility.

As well as being a model for integration without assimilation, Catholics have a religious sensibility that enables them, at least more readily than secular intellectuals, to empathise with what Muslims are feeling. They too have not rejected the help of metaphysics in shaping their conception of reality; they too have an absolute rather than a relativistic morality; they too value the family and want to pass their beliefs on to their children; their faith also has a strong international dimension. They understand how much pain ridicule and contempt can cause when directed at revered religious figures, and why that pain can quickly turn to indignation and anger. And they have learnt when it is best to turn the other cheek. Being more familiar with the secular mindset, Catholics may help to explain Muslim feelings. In short, they may be in a position to supply the missing link. It is sorely needed.
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