Confronting Islam
I believe the topic began earlier today concerning Islam is an interesting one and one I believe the variety of contributors to this blog could expand upon. Specifically, what ought the relationship to be between Catholics/Orthodox and the Islamic faith? Is Islam something we, as Christians, ought to be concerned with specifically? Do the followers of Islam worship God or another deity? You get the picture.
To me, all of the questions asked above (and the numerous left unstated) present a myriad of difficulties. I have found myself in a bind between wanting to keep a pluralistic mindset with respect to my participation as a citizen of a liberal democracy and realizing there are limits, lest I sacrifice the integrity of my beliefs. Even with a secular outlook on Islam itself, there are reasonable grounds to approach it with suspicion. Given that democracy has only found application in the loosest sense in the Islamic world (ex: Egypt), one has to wonder what its current rise in Europe will do to the state of their democratic practices. Furthermore, it casts a serious shadow of doubt upon whether or not the neoconservative policy agenda of exporting democracy to the Middle East (starting with Iraq) has any chance of success. If not, I suppose we can erase that “Satisfied” mark off of the Catechism of the Catholic Church’s requirement for just war to have a reasonable hope of success in its aims.
Beyond that, there are deeper theological issues to consider. Is it at all possible to reconcile the Islamic worship of Allah with the Christian worship of the Holy Trinity or the Jewish worship of God the Father? I see serious problems with this for the very fact there are those in Islam who proudly declare “Allah had no son.” Also, given the great gulf which lies between the teachings of Christianity as derived from God and those of the Islamic faith, it seems to difficult to conceive of how they came from the same source. While there are crossovers for sure, are they enough to convince Christians that it is the same deity?
As for any possible threat that Islam presents to Christianity, I am cautious about dismissing the view as being reactionary. As any Orthodox or student of Middle Eastern history ought to know, Islam has already been a serious threat to Christianity. While I do not believe we have to worry about the Vatican being sacked or Orthodox Churches in America being burned to the ground, the political influence of Islam is already beginning to rear itself in Western society. The current evidence from leading social scientists indicates it is only going to increase [Note: I direct interested parties to Sacred and Secular by Norris & Inglehart and Muslims and the State in Britain, France, and Germany by Fetzer & Soper, both from Cambridge University Press].
I apologize if these remarks seem open ended, offering more questions than answers (or even strong opinion). I certainly want to remark further on the matter, but I open up the floor for comments and insights from readers and my fellow bloggers.