Few Christians are willing to admit that Islam has an important contribution to make to world peace, yet the enormous problems faced by the modern world necessitate cooperation and respect between the different faiths, says Australian Jesuit and Islamic scholar Fr Herman Roborgh.
Fr Roborgh hosted a series of workshops in Pakistan recently as part of a move by Jesuits in Lahore to revive the vision of Fr Robert Bütler, a Swiss Islamic scholar who arrived in Pakistan 50 years ago and set up a research library aimed at fostering contact between Christians and Muslims. Although there were Jesuits in the region in the 16th century, they only returned to Lahore in 1961.
The workshops on Islam were hosted for three different groups of Christians: religious and clergy, teachers and college students.
Fr Roborgh said the workshops were importantsince there is little evidence that Catholics are aware of the need for interfaith relationships. This is despite the fact that recent Popes have stressed the need for interfaith dialogue.
“On the whole, Catholics still prefer to avoid contact with persons from other religions. This is true for Catholics in Pakistan as well, even though they form only about 1.5% of the total population,” said Fr Roborgh.
“Although they are immersed in the Islamic culture of Pakistan where their ancestors have always lived, Catholics in Pakistan tend to live in separate areas in order to preserve their Christian faith. Moreover, they have obtained their knowledge of Islam from books and from Muslim teachers, some of whom have displayed very negative attitudes to Christianity. This has offended many Catholics in a profound way and they no longer feel inclined to move beyond a superficial and negative view of Islam.”
Fr Roborgh said it was essential that the relationship between Islam and Christianity be nurtured so that environmental issues and injustices could be dealt with by people with similar values.
“There cannot be peace in the world without more understanding and cooperation between the different religions” he said. “If Christians and Muslims, for example, continue to ignore one another, tensions and conflict in the world will only increase. Peace comes from relationships that build trust and make it possible to accept differences. In the modern world, we will not find peace and justice without the readiness to cross the religious boundaries that divide us.”
But general lack of awareness of the acute need for interfaith dialogue is only one challenge; a second is the negative image of Islam that is projected by the media.
“As a result of this negative image, many Christians will spontaneously deny that Islam has any value or beauty. Few Christians would be ready to admit that Islam, as a religion, has an important contribution to make to world peace. Although many Christians may claim that they already know what Islam stands for, they are not aware of the prejudices and false ideas about Islam that they have absorbed uncritically from the media. The challenge is to create more space for deep and respectful listening.”
Fr Roborgh said that the problem is particularly noticeable in Pakistan, where Christians share a common culture and language with their Muslim brothers and sisters, but are divided on the issue of religion.
“Christians are faced with the constant threat that they will be rejected and even insulted once their identity becomes known. The fear of being accused of blasphemy can also prevent the development of open and trusting relationships. The misrepresentation of Christianity in school textbooks continues to cause anguish on the part of Christians”, he said.
Following the workshops in Lahore, Fr Roborgh travelled to Sri Lanka where he gave an introductory course on Islam to Tamil-speaking seminarians at St Francis Xavier’s Major seminary in Jaffna, an area in which Christians, Hindus and Muslims also coexist.
“Since the hostilities between the Sinhalese and the Tamils have ended, increasing numbers of Muslims have returned to the areas where the Tamils live. While I was in Sri Lanka, I was struck by the obvious need for interreligious dialogue between the Christians, Buddhists, Muslims and Hindus”, he said.
Fr Herman Roborgh SJ completed his PhD in Islamic Studies at Aligarh Muslim University in India in 2007 and now resides in Australia. Read his recent article, Vindicating Islam, in Eureka Street.
Source: Province Express http://www.express.org.au/article.aspx?aeid=25840