I am certainly no expert on Islam. However, I have an active interest in how Islam continues to relate the the world generally and with the European and American western civilizations in particular. Islam brings various grivences and criticisms of modern society. Some are specific and many are general.
I happened upon an article written by Samir Khalil Samir, S.J., a Jesuit who interacts with the Islamic world and Islamic scholars. In this article, Fr. Samir writes about Pope Benedict’s ideas of Islam. Several paragraphs seemed particularly relevent to our society and in particular, moral relativism that is so pervasive among “modern” liberals. Benedict writes:
It has been said that we must not speak of God in the European constitution, because we must not offend Muslims and the faithful of other religions. The opposite is true: what offends Muslims and the faithful of other religions is not talking about God or our Christian roots, but rather the disdain for God and the sacred, that separates us from other cultures and does not create the opportunity for encounter, but expresses the arrogance of diminished, reduced reason, which provokes fundamentalist reactions.
The Holy Father feels that relativism, rather than Christian faith and affirmation of Christ, is driving much of the rancor that Islam feels for the West. It is not the sacred, but the secular which poisons Islam to the West. And I think that even the casual observer will find some truth in this notion. It is certainly curious that the values that our most liberal citizens hold dearest are held in greatest distain by believing Muslims. Take notions of sexual morality for example. Consider how Islam looks at homosexuality under shari’a, the religious law which rules in much of Islam. Homosexuals can be executed. Consider how Islam deals with women and the rights of women and contrast that to the modern notions of radical feminism. Could it be that contrary to the liberal drivel that the Islamo-fascists hate America and the West because of our “military arrogance,” that in fact they are more offended by our very liberal culture? Is it that Hollywood and those that think and act liberal are the ones that really anger and offend the Muslims?
Father Samir goes on:
Benedict XVI admires in Islam the certainty based on faith, which contrasts with the West where everything is relativized; and he admires in Islam the sense of the sacred, which instead seems to have disappeared in the West. He has understood that a Muslim is not offended by the crucifix, by religious symbols: this is actually a laicist polemic that strives to eliminate the religious from society. Muslims are not offended by religious symbols, but by secularized culture, by the fact that God and the values that they associate with God are absent from this civilization.
This is the point exactly. They hate us to large degree because of perceived irreligiosity and irreverence for the sacred. To be quite honest, I hate this too, but love freedom and peace more. Undoubtedly many of the Muslims committing murder are just evil.
So the next time that a liberal suggests that Bush and the “religious right” are responsible for the breeding of terrorists, ask them what they think offends Islam more, Christianity or Hollywood.
