By Jean Welch Hill–
In recent weeks, I have found myself engaged in conversations about Muslims. Sadly, all of these conversations have revolved around fear of Muslim people in general and the teachings of the Quran. While few of the people I talked with would take it upon themselves to interpret the Bible, all were more than willing to assume they could read the Quran without context or knowledge of the Islamic religion and pass judgment on the teachings. None was willing to admit that the Bible contains passages that might be equally taken out of context to condemn Christian beliefs, or admit that interpreting religious texts might require more than just a casual reading.
More importantly, none of the individuals I talked with was familiar with the Catholic Catechism on the issue. Under the heading The Church’s Relationship with the Muslims is the very clear statement: “The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Muslims; these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind’s judge on the last day.”
Like Catholics, Protestants, Buddhists, and Jews, Muslims may use the truth of their beliefs in ways that utterly contradict those beliefs. Extremism is not limited any one religion, nor is the more common practice of misappropriating religious beliefs to justify purely selfish actions. But Catholic faithful believe that all people, Catholic or otherwise, are part of one community created by God. The Catholic Church serves to build bridges to bring people back into the community, not walls to seal ourselves in and others out. In any conversation with people of other faiths, we show respect for the individual and seek understanding and dialogue. As the Catechism also proclaims, “Believers can profit from this dialogue by learning to appreciate better ‘those elements of truth and grace which are found among peoples [of all faiths], and which are, as it were, a secrete presence of God’.”
