|
Conor McNamara
Religion & Ethics Editor
ON THURSDAY, November 15th, The Nanovic Institute for European Studies hosted Archbishop Celestino Migliore as the featured speaker at its annual Terrence R. Keeley Vatican lecture series. Migliore, who acts as Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, delivered a talk entitled Catholicism and Islam: Points of Convergence and Divergence, Encounter and Cooperation.
Through his involvement at the U.N., the Archbishop has gained special insight into the unique challenges facing ecumenical efforts between Christians and Muslims. Speaking in a thick Italian accent, Migliore spoke of the mutual mistrust between Christians and Muslims. “Muslims view Christians as corrupt secularists, and Christians view Muslims as religiously intolerant,” said Migliore. According to the Archbishop, these stereotypes are perpetuated by sensationalistic media coverage and a lack of meaningful dialogue between the faiths.
Throughout the majority of his presentation, Migliore underscored the points of convergence between the faiths and voiced the hope that through emphasizing the commonalities between Christianity and Islam the two faiths may yet peacefully coexist. Finding this common ground must be predicated upon love of God and love of neighbor, Migliore said.
“If Christians and Muslims want to find a common ground, we have to start with our common submission to God and with the sense that others are equal to us.” The Golden Rule must play a central part in all interfaith dialogue, Migliore said. While Christians and Muslims rightfully cherish their unique identities, they must guard against adopting exclusivist attitudes that would stand as immovable obstacles to ecumenical progress.
The Archbishop then offered three concrete points upon which Christians and Muslims should seek to base their ecumenical relations.
First, Migliore noted that both Christians and Muslims claim to be descendents of Abraham, a relationship that places the two faiths into intimate kinship with one another.
Second, Christianity and Islam represent the first and second largest monotheistic religions in the world. This means that despite differences of opinion concerning God’s nature, Christians and Muslims worship the same Divine Absolute.
Third, each religion has been gifted with a sacred book through which to ascertain God’s will for mankind. A close comparison of the messages found in these books will reveal further points of convergence from which harmonious relations may be derived, Migliore said.
For peace to prevail, Migliore stressed the need for both religions to reconcile their own understandings of faith and reason. Quoting Pope Benedict, Migliore said, “Without true peace between reason and faith, there cannot be peace at the world level.” Reason functions to purify faith from extreme elements that lead to fanaticism and terrorism, while faith functions to purify reason from mechanistic and nihilistic tendencies which lead to a diminution of human dignity.
Though Migliore shied away from speaking about the harder ecumenical issues facing Christians and Muslims – like the doctrine of the Trinity, the historical accuracy of the crucifixion, the sinless nature of Muhammad, and the differing views between the East and West regarding social propriety – he did insist that any religious views that engender violence toward others must be confronted immediately.
“It is not enough for any religion to say, ‘Extremists do not speak for us,’ or ‘We do not associate with extremists.’ The faithful must publicly proclaim that the sacred texts do not harmonize with fundamentalism.” In order for the religious views of any group to be considered rightly ordered, members of the religious community must be able to say that the God they believe in is consistent in asking humanity to maintain the conviction that all human life is sacred, Migliore said.
In closing, Migliore urged all those in attendance to take active ownership of their relationship with people of other faiths. He stressed that political ecumenism, the kind that happens at the U.N., is ineffective in bringing about meaningful change. “People in New York like to refer the United Nations as ‘Turtle Bay.’ I like to think this is coincidental, but sometimes things work there at a snail’s pace.” Faith communities must initiate interfaith dialogue; if the Golden Rule is a precondition for every interfaith interaction, the world will inevitably become a much better place.
Contact Conor at cmcnama1@nd.edu.
| 
