Vatican to Muslims: Practice What You Preach

This is a great article about how the Vatican is showing its grave concern over recent events in the Islamic world. The childish cartoon that has started this whole problem is certainly the problem, but the reaction by certain Muslim groups, probably incited by radicals, is wrong.

For me, I find it particularly interesting that so many American newspapers and media outlets have refused to print this cartoon. Not that they should, because it is offensive to Muslims. However, would they have the same restraint for Christians, and in particular Catholics. Absolutely Not! CNN has said it ‘has chosen not to show the cartoons out of respect for Islam.’ The New York Times says it is wrong to publish ‘gratuitous assaults on religious symbols.’ Don't you find these comments laughable. I mean how often do you see the NYT or CNN choose not to rip on the Church by playing the "respect" card? Probably never!

Let me take you back to the 90's with the work of Andres Serrano’s “Piss Christ” which consistied of a crucifix submerged in a tank of Serrano’s urine as well as Chris Ofili’s “The Holy Virgin Mary” that showed the icon clotted with elephant dung and surrounded by pornographic images. Now this would clearly be "gratuitous assault on religious symbols" right? Right?

Well, when protests came against the public showing of these images, the New York Times railed against those who protested. As the uproar grew, numerous editorials in defense of Piss Christ were quickly printed in U.S. and European newspapers and many of those associated with the "Western cultural elite" quickly sprang to his defense. For months, the New York Times beat the “freedom of expression” drum, publishing numerous articles and opinion pieces sympathetic to Serrano and depicting him as courageous. This Serrano guy became a celebrated art hero. Those who were outspoken against these images were belittled and mocked. Columnists at the New York times compared those who were protesting against this "art" with Nazi’s notorious 1937 condemnation of “degenerate art.”

Yet, even with these horrible images, which are certainly more offensive than the recent cartoon mocking Muhammad, there were no deaths or destruction associated with the protests against them. This either means that most Christians of the world choose to express their anger in non-violent ways or that too many Christians, particularly in the Western world, just don't care.

BTW: If you are interested in getting more info about Islam, make sure to attend "Wine and Wisdom" this Monday at Albans Restaurant in Birmingham. We are devoting the next two Mondays to Islam and the Crusades.

By Tom Heneghan, Religion Editor Thu Feb 23, 12:55 PM ET
PARIS (Reuters) - After backing calls by Muslims for respect for their religion in the Mohammad cartoons row, the Vatican is now urging Islamic countries to reciprocate by showing more tolerance toward their Christian minorities.

Roman Catholic leaders at first said Muslims were right to be outraged when Western newspapers reprinted Danish caricatures of the Prophet, including one with a bomb in his turban. Most Muslims consider any images of Mohammad to be blasphemous.
After criticizing both the cartoons and the violent protests in Muslim countries that followed, the Vatican this week linked the issue to its long-standing concern that the rights of other faiths are limited, sometimes severely, in Muslim countries.

Vatican prelates have been concerned by recent killings of two Catholic priests in Turkey and Nigeria. Turkish media linked the death there to the cartoons row. At least 146 Christians and Muslims have died in five days of religious riots in Nigeria.

"If we tell our people they have no right to offend, we have to tell the others they have no right to destroy us," Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Vatican's Secretary of State (prime minister), told journalists in Rome.

"We must always stress our demand for reciprocity in political contacts with authorities in Islamic countries and, even more, in cultural contacts," Foreign Minister Archbishop Giovanni Lajolo told the daily Corriere della Sera.

Reciprocity -- allowing Christian minorities the same rights as Muslims generally have in Western countries, such as building houses of worship or practicing religion freely -- is at the heart of Vatican diplomacy toward Muslim states.

Vatican diplomats argue that limits on Christians in some Islamic countries are far harsher than restrictions in the West that Muslims decry, such as France's ban on headscarves in state schools.

Saudi Arabia bans all public expression of any non-Muslim religion and sometimes arrests Christians even for worshipping privately. Pakistan allows churches to operate but its Islamic laws effectively deprive Christians of many rights.
Both countries are often criticized at the
United Nations' Human Rights Commission for violating religious freedoms.

"ENOUGH TURNING THE OTHER CHEEK"
Pope Benedict signaled his concern on Monday when he told the new Moroccan ambassador to the Vatican that peace can only be assured by "respect for the religious convictions and practices of others, in a reciprocal way in all societies."

He mentioned no countries by name. Morocco is tolerant of other religions, but like all Muslim countries frowns on conversion from Islam to another faith.

Iraqi Christians say they were well treated under Saddam Hussein's secular policies, but believers have been killed, churches burned and women forced to wear Muslim garb since Islamic groups gained sway after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

Christians make up only a tiny fraction of the population in most Muslim countries. War and political pressure in recent decades have forced many to emigrate from Middle Eastern communities dating back to just after the time of Jesus.

As often happens at the Vatican, lower-level officials have been more outspoken than the Pope and his main aides.

"Enough now with this turning the other cheek! It's our duty to protect ourselves," Monsignor Velasio De Paolis, secretary of the Vatican's supreme court, thundered in the daily La Stampa. Jesus told his followers to "turn the other cheek" when struck.

"The West has had relations with the Arab countries for half a century, mostly for oil, and has not been able to get the slightest concession on human rights," he said.

Bishop Rino Fisichella, head of one of the Roman universities that train young priests from around the world, told Corriere della Sera the Vatican should speak out more.

"Let's drop this diplomatic silence," said the rector of the Pontifical Lateran University. "We should put pressure on international organizations to make the societies and states in majority Muslim countries face up to their responsibilities."