nyt focuses today on the cardinal conclave's consideration of islam. the article suggests that islam and relations with muslims are major issues which the cardinals will take into considerations as they pick a new pope. pope john paul II was the first pope to step inside a mosque (damascus) and also apologized for past attrocities (e.g. crusades). he maintained a strict policy of dialogue with muslims.
yet many within the vatican and amongst cardinals feel that this policy is too lenient. they argue that islam is hostile, violent, and evangelical. thus they feel that catholics need to try to convert them at the very least. it is interesting that the article can take such a tone, it would be laughable if done with any other major world religion. but islam is now open to all sorts of shots and accusations.
interestingly, cardinals that have the most interaction with muslims (cardinal francis arinze of nigeria) feel that muslims and catholics have a lot to learn from each other. other cardinals feel that people of all faiths need to stand together to fight secularism. interestingly, other cardinals feel that muslims need to become more secular. oh so less secularism for catholics and more for muslims (oh maybe he is on to something). another hot button issue for the cardinals is the future inclusion of turkey into the eu. some see constantinople as one of the oldest european cities and many see it as a nation of another continent (who made up these continents anyway?).
i for one feel that dialogue is the best avenue, but i guess i am not a fan of catholics trying to convert me. (though if i was going to be christian, i would go catholic all the way, the churches are prettier and i love all the pomp and ceremony) but it is definitely up to muslims to come to the dialogue table and quash those factions that make it okay for people to openly say that islam is a violent religion, etc. man i saw militant buddhists in sri lanka, still no one feels it is okay to say that buddhism is a violent religion. actually when most people hear that there are militant buddhists they are shocked (man we need to hire their pr folks). more to think about: evangelism. in the past muslims have prided themselves on not being "evangelical", not sending out missionaries, when did we decide that aggressive evangelism was a good thing?
