Vatican Reaches Out to Muslims

September 29th, 2007Vahid S. (Iran)

The Vatican reaching out to Muslims to work for peace and understanding. Good job. But I thought one of the messages in the article deserves a little more examination. It also ties into one of the other posts…Terror in Schools.

Tauran urged Islamic leaders to educate their children in a way that “honors all human creatures.”

So, that doesn’t happen I take it?

VATICAN CITY – The Vatican on Friday urged Muslims to reject violence, work with Christians for peace and to teach their children to love and respect all people and not become “cultural or religious blocs opposed to one another.” The Vatican’s top official in charge of relations with Muslims, Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, issued the traditional message to Muslims to mark the end of the holy month of Ramadan. In it, he urged Muslims to enter into a dialogue with Christians to “help us to escape from the endless spiral of conflict and multiple tensions which mark our societies.” It was the most pointed appeal to Muslims from Tauran, who was named in June to head the newly reopened Vatican office that specializes in relations with Muslims, the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue. Church relations with Muslims were badly strained last year after a speech by Pope Benedict XVI that linked Islam to violence. Benedict later said he regretted that Muslims were offended by his remarks. Tauran, the Vatican’s foreign affairs chief from 1990 to 2003, has pledged to back the moderate forces within Islam to improve dialogue and help defeat extremist groups that encourage terrorism. The French prelate said all religious believers had the duty to work together for peace and to “reject, denounce and refuse every recourse to violence which can never be motivated by religion, since it wounds the very image of God in man.” “We know that violence, especially terrorism, which strikes blindly and claims countless innocent victims, is incapable of resolving conflicts and leads only to a deadly chain of destructive hatred, to the detriment of mankind and societies,” Tauran wrote. He said he was appealing with all his heart for Muslims to enter a dialogue with Christians so they can work together for peace. Such dialogue, he said, would give the younger generations an example to follow.

Tauran urged Islamic leaders to educate their children in a way that “honors all human creatures.”

“Thus all forces can be mobilized in the service of mankind and humanity so that the younger generations do not become cultural or religious blocs opposed to one another, but genuine brothers and sisters in humanity,” he said.

NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press

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4 Responses to “Vatican Reaches Out to Muslims”

1. #1 MyTwoCents - September 29th, 2007 at 12:52 pm

   Perhaps not always.

   I got kicked out of my Islamic Studies class for voicing my opinion against stoning.

   terror-in-saudi-schools

2. #2 ME Faith - Middle East Interfaith Blogger Network » Blog Archive » Vatican Reaches Out to Muslims - September 29th, 2007 at 12:54 pm

   [...] Mideast Youth – Thinking AheadArticle: Vatican Reaches Out to MuslimsOriginaly Posted On: 2007-09-29 [...]

3. #3 RandallJones - September 29th, 2007 at 1:07 pm

   MyTwoCents,

   Without U.S. support the Saudis rulers would have been gone a long time ago. I guess the trillions of dollars in investment money and billions of money made selling the Saudis weapons they don’t know how to use, is more important than human rights.

4. #4 RandallJones - September 29th, 2007 at 1:15 pm

   
   From U.S., the ABC’s of Jihad
   Violent Soviet-Era Textbooks Complicate Afghan Education Efforts

   In the twilight of the Cold War, the United States spent millions of dollars to supply Afghan schoolchildren with textbooks filled with violent images and militant Islamic teachings, part of covert attempts to spur resistance to the Soviet occupation.
   
   The primers, which were filled with talk of jihad and featured drawings of guns, bullets, soldiers and mines, have served since then as the Afghan school system’s core curriculum. Even the Taliban used the American-produced books, though the radical movement scratched out human faces in keeping with its strict fundamentalist code.

   As Afghan schools reopen today, the United States is back in the business of providing schoolbooks. But now it is wrestling with the unintended consequences of its successful strategy of stirring Islamic fervor to fight communism. What seemed like a good idea in the context of the Cold War is being criticized by humanitarian workers as a crude tool that steeped a generation in violence.

   See the complete article at http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A5339-2002Mar22?language=printer

   One more thing it says int eh article
   
   Some legal experts disagreed. A 1991 federal appeals court ruling against AID’s former director established that taxpayers’ funds may not pay for religious instruction overseas, said Herman Schwartz, a constitutional law expert at American University, who litigated the case for the American Civil Liberties Union.

   Ayesha Khan, legal director of the nonprofit Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said the White House has “not a legal leg to stand on” in distributing the books.

   “Taxpayer dollars cannot be used to supply materials that are religious,” she said.

   I wonder if if these organizations were as concerned about the U.S. recruiting and training Muslim extremists to fight its proxy war against the Russians? The country of Afghanistan had been destroyed and millions had been killed.