Posted on 11/26/2004 7:40:55 PM PST by Land_of_Lincoln_John
CAIRO, November 26 (IslamOnline.net) - A leading European cardinal claimed that Islam could not integrate into Europe unless it makes a clear break between religion and state as Roman Catholicism went through after the French revolution.
Belgium's Cardinal Godfried Danneels is one of a few Catholic churchmen tipped as a possible successor to Pope John Paul II.
Danneels said in an interview with Reuters that Muslims should be ready to show more flexibility to interpret the Noble Qur’an.
"I think, I hope that it is possible to create a European Islam which has gone through its own French Revolution. It can already be found here or there," he said in the interview, published by the Express India newspaper.
Muslim scholars say Islam sees no separation between religion and life, believing that religion should be the common denominator in all the activities of daily life.
"Islam requires that we live our whole life, every aspect of life in obedience to Allah. We are not part-time servants of Allah," said Dr. Muzammil Siddiqi, the former president of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA).
"Our religion (Islam) is not against common sense rules and it recognizes that people of other religions and cultures also have a lot of good things and we can share with them those common values and cooperate with them," he said.
“No Contradiction”
Danneels argued though that Muslim communities in Europe should see the contradiction between following tenets of Islam and integration into western societies.
"I think Islam should do that. Christianity did it, especially under the influence of the French Revolution. Apart from its negative aspects, there were also good things, like the separation of church and state," he said.
There have been mounting European bids to allegedly reinterpret Islam on claims to help step up Muslim integration in the west.
Major Swiss Christian groups have called for establishing a government-supervised institute to educate Muslim imams on the "liberal" lifestyle in western societies.
Releasing a 20-point strategy to step up the Muslim integration into society, German integration minister Marieluise Beck said Tuesday, November 23, imams coming to Germany should have a knowledge of the German language and society.
“Moderate” Islam
Danneels, the archbishop for the Brussels-Mechelen region, also called on Muslims to adopt what he termed a "moderate" Islam that does not cover all social and economic aspects of life.
"This is fundamental. It is very difficult to talk to a monolithic Islam, because that comes down to 'take it or leave it' and the accomplishments of European history, culture and social order are not really integrated in that," he said.
He claimed that Islam should allow more flexible interpretation of its scriptures.
"That is fundamental, the willingness of Islam to interpret its texts, the Qur’an in particular," Danneels said.
Crusade Memory
The prominent European archbishop suggested both Muslims and westerners overcome their past differences and thrash out new ideas on furthering understanding between both sides.
"There are a lot of things which got stuck in the memory, for example of the Muslim communities -- even the memory of the Crusades is still very much alive," Danneels said.
He warned against confusing religion and fundamentalism, which he called "a pathology of religion".
"Whoever commits violence in the name of God... actually commits violence against God," he said.
"Whoever hates in the name of God, actually hates God himself."
Pope John Paul II on January 17, exhorted Christians, Muslims and Jews to bury the hatchet and work in tandem to rid the world of never-ending wars.
However, in May 2004 a German newspaper reported that the Vatican has been pumping huge amounts of funds into a very influential institution of the Catholic Church to halt the spread of Islam across the world.
The European clergy can be counted on to pronounce such a load of crap.It's no wonder they are so successful there.
Ping
I have been promoting a New Koran, similiar to the New Testament in it's moderating of the Old Testament in the same way the New Testament moderated the positions of Leviticus and others in the Old Testament.
The first update would ditch the 72 virgins hoax.
They couldn't admit that the entire Koran was a fabrication anymore that Dan Rather will ever admit that the Bush National Guard memos were a fabrication with no basis in fact.
Uh huh, by next week they will become secularists. Good luck.
ping
"Those 26 people can go about their business."
LOL, funny, but sad, but true!
No sane modern person... Islam isn't modern... For it blasphemy is still something that should be punished by death... This is the catch 22!
Don't want a Frenchie as the next Pope -- we should have either CArdinal Arinze (fromNigeria) or Cardinal Ivan DIas( from India) -- both nations that KNOW theIslamic problem.
"Trap, Neuter, Release"
Now that is a plan that would protect our future generations. Thanks, Pod
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.