Posted on 01/05/2016 10:31:42 AM PST by NYer
In the wake of numerous Islamist terrorist attacks, a reaction against religion is now discernible in many quarters of society. After 9/11, the sales of books by prominent atheists such as Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens skyrocketed. The gradual slide into secularism that had been underway for decades prior to 9/11 accelerated after that event. In the last fifteen years, the number of people opting for agnosticism, atheism, or simply no religion has grown markedly. The massacres in Paris and San Bernardino have added fuel to the fire. After the Paris attacks, a Huffington Post article called for the "elimination of all world religions."
The argument for rejecting all religion is that all religions are essentially the same and, therefore, all religions lead in the same direction--namely, toward bloodshed. That's a fairly simplistic view of religion, but simplicity seems to be the order of the day. On the other side of the ledger, an increasing number of people seem to subscribe to the notion that all religions are essentially good and that all share the same peaceful beliefs and values.
In terms of discerning how to react in the face of religious terrorism, that broad view is not very helpful, either. Neither side seems willing to make the necessary distinctions about world religions. Thus, for the cynical, it's all bad, and for the sentimental, it's all good.
Unfortunately, one of the few institutions that has the intellectual and theological resources to make the distinctions has chosen instead to line up with the "all good" camp. In various and sundry ways the Catholic Church has let it be known that it's okay with Islam--not with terrorism, of course, but the terrorists, we are assured, are in no way representative of Islam. We hear repeatedly from priests, bishops, cardinals, and the pope himself that Islam is a religion of peace, that Muslims are our spiritual brethren, that we worship the same God, and that we share the same values.
The Church leadership has correctly discerned that religion is under attack, but instead of responding in nuanced fashion, it has become an apologist for generic religion. In the process, Church leaders have become, in effect, defenders and protectors of Islam.
The general line of defense is to claim that violent Muslims are not true Muslims. Thus, in Evangelii Gaudium, Pope Francis stated that "authentic Islam and the proper reading of the Koran are opposed to every form of violence." That, basically, is a rephrasing of the oft-heard claim that violence has nothing to do with Islam. It's also an example of a logical fallacy sometimes referred to as the "No True Scotsman" argument. The term is attributed to philosopher Anthony Flew, and the example he gives can be paraphrased as follows:
A Scotsman reads an article about a sex crime committed in England. He asserts that "no Scotsman would do such a thing." When confronted with evidence to the contrary, he responds that "no true Scotsman would do such a thing."
In short, that which has to be proved is simply assumed to be true. Likewise, the defenders of Islam never offer any proof that Islam is a religion of peace. Since Islam is a religion, it is simply assumed to be peaceful. Violent Islamists, therefore, can never be "true" followers of the faith. They are always cast as "misunderstanders" of their religion who "pervert" its true meaning.
This protective attitude toward the "fellow" religion goes beyond official statements. When Pope Francis greeted a group of Muslim refugees in Rome, he told them to follow the faith of their parents--the implication being that Islam provides a valid path to salvation.
Meanwhile, Catholic leaders in America and Europe seem more concerned about the dangers of Islamophobia than the dangers of Islam. In April, Catholic Georgetown University held a conference on "Islamophobia" featuring a lineup of Islamic apologists all testifying to the threat posed by anti-Muslim "hysteria." Last year, in the wake of Islamic State atrocities against Christians and Yazidis, the first thought of Bishop Denis Madden, the chair of the USCCB Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, was to voice his concern about "rising Islamophobia." Indeed, it has become common practice for bishops to caution against anti-Muslim backlash following terrorist attacks. Add to this some ill-considered interreligious gestures (popes kissing the Koran and praying in mosques) and the long-standing Catholic campaign to bring Muslim migrants and refugees into the West, and you have the makings of a massive anti-Catholic backlash.
If the Church continues to identify with Islam, others will begin to identify it with all that is bad in Islam. There will be a great deal of unfairness in the comparison, but if Church leaders can't be bothered to emphasize its differences with Islam, the critics of the Church won't bother either. The first line of critics will be the atheists. The Church leadership's automatic defense of Islam plays into the atheist contention that all religions march in lockstep. Atheists will argue that the Church protects Islam because it shares the same narrow-minded, supremacist, and misogynist views. Having gotten in the habit of emphasizing the similarities between Islam and Catholicism, Catholics must now face the downside of comparing their faith with the most destructive and oppressive religion on the planet.
And the backlash won't be coming solely from the atheist amen corner. The Church's Islam-friendly stance will begin to alienate other Christians (and a great many Catholics as well). A number of Protestant, Orthodox, and Catholic friends and acquaintances have shared with me their dismay over the Vatican's Islam policy. Similar sentiments have been expressed by various Christian columnists. Recently, Wheaton College in Illinois--the "Harvard of Evangelical Colleges"--suspended a professor for publicly declaring that Christians and Muslims "worship the same God." The people at Wheaton and other Evangelical colleges can't be too happy about Catholic statements that we do worship the same God. Meanwhile, fundamentalist Christians are likely to be even more disenchanted. One of the distinctions Pope Francis does seem willing to make about religion is the distinction between authentic believers and "fundamentalists." In his efforts to avoid offending mainstream Muslims, the Pope has delivered a back-handed insult to fundamentalist Christians. Judging by his statements, he seems to think that terrorists and Christian fundamentalists belong in more or less the same camp. And judging by other things he has said, the Pope seems to include many orthodox and traditional Catholics in the "fundamentalist" grouping.
Critics of the Vatican's Islam policy don't necessarily view the Church as a collaborator with Islam, but they see it as increasingly out of touch with reality. The overall objection to the Church's stance is that it doesn't comport with the evidence. Ordinary Christians who aren't stuck with the task of defending a dubious narrative about Islam can see that there is a radical difference between the Christian faith and the religion of Islam. And they know that the blather about Islam being a religion of peace is sheer nonsense.
The result is that many Christians who are otherwise well-disposed toward the Catholic Church are losing confidence in the Church--at least in regard to the Islamic issue. At a time when the Christian world is looking for clear and forthright guidance, the Church's leadership risks discrediting itself by continuing to identify the interests of Islam with its own interests.
Catholic ping!
After 1400 year’s of constant attacks by Islam, I’m dumbfounded by any serious Catholic who apologizes for Islam.
You are an infidel, and therefore an enemy and subhuman. Any serious “scholar” of Islam, any well-known Imam, Mullah or Sheikh will admit this.
Pope Francis is a loser!
What Islamic backlash? Most of the elites appear to be embracing it as a useful tool.
Except of course for their chosen religion of atheism, the worship of null! Why should there be a backlash against the Catholic Church, have I missed the Pope's call for conversion or beheadings of non believers?(at least for the last several hundred years), or for the calls for death to those that disparage Christ or the Virgin Mary?
Define what is meant by religion. Does a spiritual or metaphysical God have to be a component? The reason I ask is because nothing seems more like religion to me than the American left.
“Except of course for their chosen religion of atheism, the worship of null!”
Worship of SELF is more like it. Not so much disagreeing with your point as refining it!
I mentioned before, I was astounded a person like Pope Francis who is in the religion business, doesn't know much about a competitive religion like Islam, especially since they have been killing Christians for 1400 years.
I would expect a Catholic Pope to know about Judaism , Zoroastrianism,Islam, Hinduism, Mormonism etc.
This Pope is as dangerous to Catholicism, as Obama is to America. -Tom
We have survived bad popes before and we will survive this bad pope as well.
Good piece. thanks for posting. The comments are instructive as well. Especially the analogy with the German army and Nazis.
Catholic Church is going down and will die - claim #467898765544333
Next.....
What a claptrap screed. Friday Funnies already?!
Hence, the backlash. Read the article through for the full understanding of its impact.
That's pretty scary but not surprising. You may recall Joseph Ratzinger, the predecessor of Pope Francis, addressed this issue, from a christian perspective, in the homily he delivered at the mass that preceded his election as Pope Benedict XVI. His words have haunted me ever since he delivered them 11 years ago and will definitely clarify what you are expressing.
How many winds of doctrine have we known in recent decades, how many ideological currents, how many ways of thinking. The small boat of the thought of many Christians has often been tossed about by these waves - flung from one extreme to another: from Marxism to liberalism, even to libertinism; from collectivism to radical individualism; from atheism to a vague religious mysticism; from agnosticism to syncretism and so forth. Every day new sects spring up, and what St Paul says about human deception and the trickery that strives to entice people into error (cf. Eph 4: 14) comes true.Today, having a clear faith based on the Creed of the Church is often labeled as fundamentalism. Whereas relativism, that is, letting oneself be "tossed here and there, carried about by every wind of doctrine", seems the only attitude that can cope with modern times. We are building a dictatorship of relativism that does not recognize anything as definitive and whose ultimate goal consists solely of one's own ego and desires.
We, however, have a different goal: the Son of God, the true man. He is the measure of true humanism. An "adult" faith is not a faith that follows the trends of fashion and the latest novelty; a mature adult faith is deeply rooted in friendship with Christ. It is this friendship that opens us up to all that is good and gives us a criterion by which to distinguish the true from the false, and deceipt from truth.
Don't be deluded by liberalism. It is like the vortex of a tornado that sucks you in.
I had forgotten this speech...his emphasis on a relationship with Jesus Christ rather than ‘The Church’ or the man who is pope is Faith and Belief.
Jesus is the TRUTH.
Catholics should follow the Truth and be about the Truth.
While I am not an expert on various religions, it appears that they, including Islam, were founded by men and they do not proclaim all the Truth or Love that Jesus expressed. Many seem to express hatred and condone violence in the name of their God.
While the mission of the Catholic Church is to help all attain everlasting life with God, and they want to share their christian love with others (perhaps by damning the sin and not the sinner), the Catholic Church needs to fully proclaim the Truth just as Jesus did.
And realize that in proclaiming the TRUTH,that some will not believe.
But the author gets that the Catholic Church in America, with its big city immigrant Democrat culture, alienates America's rural people. However, it is not merely islamophilia, but its liberal politics, its evolutionism, its higher criticism, its reflexive condemnations of any and all Biblical fundamentalism or "literalism," its pro-gun control, its knee-jerk anti-Zionism and pro-"palestinianism," and its hostility to rural America.
I often wonder how the American Catholic Church and Generalissimo Franco are part of the same religion.
An all round disaster.
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