Cardinal Tauran Laments ‘Right-Wing’ Ignorance of Islam

Catholic Culture ^ | 3/20/12

[marshmallow]

Speaking with Al Jazeera, the president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue lamented mutual ignorance between Christians and Muslims.

“We succeeded in avoiding the clash of civilizations; let us avoid a clash of ignorance,” said Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran. In Europe, he stated, “there is a fear of Islam, but it is due to ignorance.”

“If you speak to right-wing groups, you realize that they have never opened a Qur’an and never met a Muslim.,” he continued. “There needs to be a big effort to educate, to inform them … because most of the problems are coming from misinterpretation or ignorance.”

Cardinal Tauran also criticized the attitudes of some Muslims towards Christians.

Cardinal Tauran to Al Jazeera:"avoid a 'clash of ignorance'" (Vatican Radio)

[marshmallow]

I think you've got it bass-ackwards, your Eminence.

Fear of Islam is due to becoming more familiar with its teachings and its violent, expansionist history.

Ambivalence or even affection towards Islam are due to ignorance.

[Doc Savage]

First guy to take a spear!

[hoagy62]

Cardinal Tauran...we in the United States of America learned all we EVER needed to know about Islam on September 11th, 2001.

[muir_redwoods]

I learned everything there is to know about the infantile death-cult called islam on 9/11/01. It needs to be destroyed like small pox needs to be destroyed. As long as the child-molesting homicidal drunken maniac muhammad has one adherent on this earth, that’s one too many.

Lower-case letters for all islamic references intentional

[bunkerhill7]

Christians Laugh at Cardinal Tauran`s Ignorance of Islam

Muslim mob burns, ransacks churches in Indonesia
(AFP) – Feb 7, 2011

TEMANGGUNG, Indonesia — A Muslim mob burned churches and clashed with police in Indonesia on Tuesday as they demanded the death penalty for a Christian man convicted of blaspheming against Islam, police said.

[cuban leaf]

—Cardinal Tauran...we in the United States of America learned all we EVER needed to know about Islam on September 11th, 2001.—

Actually, it got me to read the Koran. The fact is, my hatred of Islam is not due to ignorance, which is what I had before 9/11. I just saw it as another religion I didn’t adhere to. After reading the Koran and the history of that religion, I understand. It is because of KNOWLEDGE of Islam that I hate it.

And its most impacted victims are the muslims themselves. It is also a political system with a thin coating of religion, which protects it in the US in a way the German American Bund before WWII could only dream of.

[FatherofFive]

let us avoid a clash of ignorance.

Educate yourself.

The Koran:

Sura (2:191-193) - "And slay them wherever ye find them, and drive them out of the places whence they drove you out, for persecution of Muslims is worse than slaughter of non-believers...and fight them until persecution is no more, and religion is for Allah."

Sura (4:74) - "Let those fight in the way of Allah who sell the life of this world for the other. Whoso fighteth in the way of Allah, be he slain or be he victorious, on him We shall bestow a vast reward."

Sura (4:76) - "Those who believe fight in the cause of Allah…"

Sura (5:33) - "The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His messenger and strive to make mischief in the land is only this, that they should be murdered or crucified or their hands and their feet should be cut off on opposite sides or they should be imprisoned; this shall be as a disgrace for them in this world, and in the hereafter they shall have a grievous chastisement"

Sura (8:12) - "I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them"

Sura (8:39) - "And fight with them until there is no more persecution and religion should be only for Allah"

Sura (8:57) - "If thou comest on them in the war, deal with them so as to strike fear in those who are behind them, that haply they may remember."

Sura (9:14) - "Fight them, Allah will punish them by your hands and bring them to disgrace..."

Sura (9:29) - "Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, even if they are of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued."

Sura (9:30) - "And the Jews say: Ezra is the son of Allah; and the Christians say: The Messiah is the son of Allah; these are the words of their mouths; they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved before; may Allah destroy them; how they are turned away!"

Sura (9:123) - "O you who believe! fight those of the unbelievers who are near to you and let them find in you hardness."

Sura (47:4) - "So when you meet in battle those who disbelieve, then smite the necks until when you have overcome them, then make them prisoners,"

Sura (61:4) - "Surely Allah loves those who fight in His way"

Sura (66:9) - "O Prophet! Strive against the disbelievers and the hypocrites, and be stern with them. Hell will be their home, a hapless journey's end

From the Hadith:

Muslim (1:33) - the Messenger of Allah said: I have been commanded to fight against people till they testify that there is no god but Allah, that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah

Bukhari (8:387) - Allah's Apostle said, “I have been ordered to fight the people till they say: 'None has the right to be worshipped but Allah’”

Tabari 7:97 The morning after the murder of Ashraf, the Prophet declared, "Kill any Jew who falls under your power."

Ibn Ishaq: 327 - “Allah said, ‘A prophet must slaughter before collecting captives. A slaughtered enemy is driven from the land. Muhammad, you craved the desires of this world, its goods and the ransom captives would bring. But Allah desires killing them to manifest the religion.’”

Ibn Ishaq: 992 - "Fight everyone in the way of Allah and kill those who disbelieve in Allah."

The Koran and hadiths are replete with examples of Muhammad's barbaric behavior. Robert Spencer does a good job here explaining Islam - Blogging the Qur’an Start at the bottom.

[peteyd]

Ignorance and fear of Muslims???
Hmmm,I guess the Cardinal has been speaking to the Christians’in Egypt,Sudan,Nigeria,Indonesia.....

[Westbrook]

Why isn’t this apostate excommunicated?

Let him show his true colors and join his mohammedan brethren.

[papertyger]

What an embarrassment....

[EyeGuy]

I’m Roman Catholic, but I find it very disturbing that a high-ranking Cardinal at the Vatican finds it necessary to even deploy the term “right-wing”, let alone singling us out as unread ignoramuses.

I am not at all happy with this.

[St_Thomas_Aquinas]

Remember when conservatives condemned the Crusades?

[SampleMan]

From the “maybe they'll kill me last” mindset.

This mentality is on par with telling the French that they don't understand how to speak their own language, and that French words really do end in hard consonants.

Christian converts are being being put to death every day in Muslim lands with the blessing of Islamic leaders and Islamic states. To state that this is somehow not what they believe is asinine.

[Adder]

“There needs to be a big effort to educate, to inform them

Cardinal: Verily I say unto you: your thesies is feces.

[chris37]

Stuff it in your rear, cardinal.

[PBRSTREETGANG]

Ignorance of Islam appears to be a Cardinal sin.

[skeeter]

Hopefully there are others in the west is getting as tired of this kind of limp, corrupt moralizing as I am.

[17th Miss Regt]

The good cardinal should be asked if he knows The Song of Roland and why there is such a tribute to Roland.

[katana]

I believe His Eminence, the Cardinal, should be given the opportunity to prove his point and demonstrate his faith in his Muslim brothers and be sent to Saudi Arabia to open the first Vatican mission there and oversee construction of a Roman Catholic cathedral in Mecca. After all, if he is correct in his assertions what could possibly go wrong?

Oh by the way, Your Eminence, some of us 'Right-Wing' folks (yours truly included) have quite a lot of personal and business experience and education in the region, understand better than you the nature and history of the Islamic faith, know quite a few Muslims even on occasion sharing meals in their homes (in my case in places like Saudi Arabia, Syria, Jordan, and Iraq) and have indeed opened and read the Quran. The most recent time I heard the song of the muezzin waft over a Muslim city at dawn was this past January. So with all due respect, Your Eminence, stick it.

[papertyger]

I’m Roman Catholic, but I find it very disturbing that a high-ranking Cardinal at the Vatican finds it necessary to even deploy the term “right-wing”, let alone singling us out as unread ignoramuses. I am not at all happy with this.

Then by all means, his eminence should educate us instead of insulting us.

. Though in truth, I suspect the same forces that can understand the subtleties and nuances of "natural family planning" as opposed to birth control, but can't resolve the clear moral superiority of "markets" over "planning" are at work here.