Faith, Culture and Politics
Pope Benedict XVI’s recent trip to Turkey and his use of the occasion to call for interfaith dialog prompts me to ask what good it would do. Don’t get me wrong. We’ve got to start someplace and so far we don’t seem to be making much progress. I don’t see how talking can do any harm. If it can be conducted seriously (a big if in my judgment) it would be most certainly welcome, but would it really solve anything? Are our problems with Islam essentially about faith or is something else at work that is using religion as a cover? It seems to me the issues are as much cultural and political as religious and it’s going to take more than talk.
After all, Jesus was a Jew and prayed on the cross that his executioners be forgiven. That wasn’t enough to spare Jews centuries of persecution as “Christ killers.” Some of the worst perpetrators were those who knew scripture best. That we seem to have stopped it in the modern era hasn’t been because we understand Jews any better. It’s because we understand ourselves better. We have recognized that hatred is one of our baser instincts and has no place in civilized society. We have tried to banish it. We view “hate crimes” as particularly awful. That we still have them is a fact of human nature but at least we have attempted to recognize hatred for what it is and call it by its name. We can’t say it’s got nothing to do with our faith though. Crusaders deeply believed they were about God’s work. Our religious intolerance has everything to do with our own faith and nothing to do with anybody else’s.
Muhammad’s mandate to treat “people of the book” with respect and tolerance hasn’t stopped his followers from using scripture to justify the most ungodly depredation any more than Christians, but the fault doesn’t lie in misunderstanding there either. It is internal to the haters and those who encourage them. They aren’t open to interfaith dialog. Those who are have already put hatred behind them. Political and cultural differences remain however. It seems to me that dialog can help in identifying them but they require political and cultural resolution. What are lacking in the mix are workable mechanisms for achieving that. The United Nations has never been even a part of the solution and those cultural exchanges we’ve had to date have contributed more to conflict than peaceful coexistence.
There do seem to be some bright spots on the horizon. Benedict made his most controversial remarks last September in a call to reinvigorate theology departments at major western universities. If there is to be an interfaith dialog, that’s where it will be most effective. The one authority universally respected in Islam is the scholar. Western elitists would do well to pay attention. American Muslims have been adapting themselves to citizenship in western society to a greater degree than in any other place or time, and they are doing it without compromising their faith. That sort of assimilation has not occurred in Europe but approaching Turkish membership in the EU will require changes in both Muslim and non-Muslim attitudes across the continent. That has to be a good thing and Benedict was also right to soften his opposition to Turkish inclusion. I would argue that the EU and the World Trade Organization are the two international institutions that have done the most to promote peace in the world since WWII and are models for how it can be maintained in the future.
After all, Jesus was a Jew and prayed on the cross that his executioners be forgiven. That wasn’t enough to spare Jews centuries of persecution as “Christ killers.” Some of the worst perpetrators were those who knew scripture best. That we seem to have stopped it in the modern era hasn’t been because we understand Jews any better. It’s because we understand ourselves better. We have recognized that hatred is one of our baser instincts and has no place in civilized society. We have tried to banish it. We view “hate crimes” as particularly awful. That we still have them is a fact of human nature but at least we have attempted to recognize hatred for what it is and call it by its name. We can’t say it’s got nothing to do with our faith though. Crusaders deeply believed they were about God’s work. Our religious intolerance has everything to do with our own faith and nothing to do with anybody else’s.
Muhammad’s mandate to treat “people of the book” with respect and tolerance hasn’t stopped his followers from using scripture to justify the most ungodly depredation any more than Christians, but the fault doesn’t lie in misunderstanding there either. It is internal to the haters and those who encourage them. They aren’t open to interfaith dialog. Those who are have already put hatred behind them. Political and cultural differences remain however. It seems to me that dialog can help in identifying them but they require political and cultural resolution. What are lacking in the mix are workable mechanisms for achieving that. The United Nations has never been even a part of the solution and those cultural exchanges we’ve had to date have contributed more to conflict than peaceful coexistence.
There do seem to be some bright spots on the horizon. Benedict made his most controversial remarks last September in a call to reinvigorate theology departments at major western universities. If there is to be an interfaith dialog, that’s where it will be most effective. The one authority universally respected in Islam is the scholar. Western elitists would do well to pay attention. American Muslims have been adapting themselves to citizenship in western society to a greater degree than in any other place or time, and they are doing it without compromising their faith. That sort of assimilation has not occurred in Europe but approaching Turkish membership in the EU will require changes in both Muslim and non-Muslim attitudes across the continent. That has to be a good thing and Benedict was also right to soften his opposition to Turkish inclusion. I would argue that the EU and the World Trade Organization are the two international institutions that have done the most to promote peace in the world since WWII and are models for how it can be maintained in the future.
posted by Onfoot at 5:49 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home