Word: islamics
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Samir says that beyond resolving the political conflicts in the Muslim world, there is much hard intellectual work that needs to be done to combat violence and expand freedom within the religion's ranks. "Islam is living a moment of great intellectual weakness. There is a crisis of thought," he says. "Certain things must be cleared up, ambiguities must be removed to arrive at a reading of the Koran in light of the contemporary culture based on human rights." (Read about the Pope's relationship with Islam...
Samir sees as one of the great challenges facing Islam a lack of official leadership to certify or dismiss interpretations of what sacred texts say, notably on the question of violence. "There is a need for an authority, unanimously acknowledged by Muslims, that could say 'From now on, only this verse is valid.' But this does not - and probably will never - happen," he writes in response to Question No. 26. "This means that when some fanatics kill children, women and men in the name of pure and authentic Islam, or in the name of the Koran or of the Muslim...
...what about violence, past and present, in other religions? Samir distinguishes Islam-inspired violence from the Crusades, for example, which he says were carried out in the name of Christianity (or for interests of a Christian-led nation) but not driven by any interpretation of the Gospel...
Father Dan Madigan, another Jesuit expert on Islam, doesn't deny that it's easier to justify a choice for violence with the Koran than with the Christian Gospel. But Madigan says attempts by Catholics to "claim the moral high ground" fall flat. "The idea that [Christians] can dismiss Muslims as inherently more violent doesn't stand up to historical scrutiny, whatever the justifications we might have given for our wars and our massacres." Even more to the point, says Madigan, a Georgetown University professor of theology with a Ph.D. in Islamic religion, it is counterproductive for Christian leaders...
...years since Benedict's charged lecture, the Vatican has established a permanent, ongoing Catholic-Muslim dialogue group, which held its first meetings in November. But last Easter, the Pope performed a high-profile baptism in St. Peter's Basilica of Egyptian-born Italian journalist Magdi Allam, who converted from Islam. Many Muslims and Catholics took this as a provocation. Samir instead praised it as a "necessary gesture." He says, "Freedom to choose your religion is more important than all the initiatives put together. Without it, dialogue is not possible...