Muslim/Christian Relations after 9/11

I attended a lecture on Muslim/Christian Relations after 9/11 by Gregory Baum yesterday. Dr. Baum is an excellent academic who has extensively started reading on Islam after 9/11. He started by talking about 9/11 and how it is not the event which represents Islam. Islamic tradition and culture is much richer than that.

He feels that Muslims have been subject to a lot of Tough regulations like the Patriot Act and the Bill C36 in Canada which they do not deserve. He said disagreed with Samuel Huntington idea of the clash of Civilizations and stated he believed in the notion of " Dialogue between civilizations"

He gave quotes from the Vatican council in the 1960s on Islam and also quoted Pope John Paul the second to confirm how the Catholic Church encouraged good relations with the Muslims. He stated that there are other Churches ( other than the Catholic Church) which are open to dialgue as well.

He said that extremism in Islam takes root from a lot a complicated reasons--more social than Religious. He sated that Western Countries like Britain and France had double standards in the 19th century where they promoted Democracy on their home turf however at the same time they contradicted themselves when they forcefully colonized many countries.

Next he divided the Muslim revival in the face of Western Colonialism into 2 categories. into two categories: The first being the reformists like Afghani, Rashid Rida, Sir Syed Ahmad khan, etc. who were like the early Muttalizites and the second category was of the more literalistic Wahabis ( That categorization was too simplified in my opinion).

Dr. Baum quoted a Turkish Revivalist ( whose name I did not catch) and extensively quoted Tariq Ramadan. He expressed hope in their writings saying that here we had really amazing theologians who while being true to their faith are also promoting harmony between the Western Muslims and the communities of the countries they live in. Dr. Baum expressed his sadness at the fact that French secularists had labeled Dr. Ramadan as a Hidden Fundamentalist or a Muslim Apologist. He sad that it was sad that books and articles by smart people don't get the attention they deserve from the media who prefer to give time to statements by Mr. Laden.

The Q & A session followed and we had some good questions ( and some not so good questions) from the audience. He was asked by a Muslim friend of mine ( there were around 10 or so Muslims there ) on how he should conduct himself with his Christian friends who kept bringing up the differences between Christianity and Islam on the diviness of Jesus. ( people clapped after his question!). Dr. Baum stated that indeed that was a fundamental difference however that should not stop us from reaching out to one another because we do have a lot in common.

Another good question was on the way the secularists in Canada view religion and Dr.. Baum expressed hope because had seen the most hard-on-religion secular people take a U turn on religion. He gave the example of German theologian who did that! Overall it was a very refreshing lecture and it was encouraging to see an esteemed intellectual like Dr. Baum reaching his hand out to Islam.

Someone asked him if there was a connection between the Hijab ban and the riots in France. He said the riots were a result of social and economic reasons and not the Hijab ban. In his opinion France had done a bad job in intergrating these Muslims into their society ( I believe the Muslims are at fault too). Germany, he observed also faces similar problems . Germany called in "guest worker"s from Turkey expecting them to go back to Turkey after a short period of time so they put no thought into welcoming these workers to German society. These workers and those who arrived later however have stayed in Germany and often are totally cut from German Society. He said now that this isolation of the Turks in becoming a issue the Germans unfairly blame the Turk immigrants.

Lectures at St. Jermoes always give me hope of a serious dialogue between Islam and Christianity and this lecture was no different.