Arinze: hard-liners make interfaith relations hard

Christian Century, Dec 12, 2001 by Douglas Todd

The rise of religious fundamentalism around the world, including among Muslims, has made interreligious dialogue both more difficult and more important than ever, says a high-ranking cardinal in the Catholic Church. Francis A. Arinze, who is on most observers' short lists to become the next pope, recently told a British Columbia audience that the Vatican is going out of its way to open channels of communication with Muslims following the "barbarous" September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.

With the United States leading the military assault on Afghanistan to root out terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden, a Muslim extremist, Arinze said he does not naively believe that it's easy to enter into dialogue with Muslims or anyone else who takes a hard-line position.

"We are realistic. We are well informed," said Arinze, 69, when an audience member at Westminster Abbey, 50 miles east of Vancouver, asked if it was possible to dialogue with Muslims who hate Christians. "It makes religious dialogue much more difficult, but also much more important. Fundamentalists make problems for their own religion," the African-born cardinal said. "I recall talking to one Muslim leader--I won't say from what country--and asked him what he could do to make fundamentalists more moderate. And he said: `The fundamentalists have my name on their list of one of those to be wiped out.' That means he was in trouble."

Arinze is currently president of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, which makes him the Catholic Church's leading representative on how to relate to Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, atheists and others. Arinze has refused to grant interviews to the media in the past few years in part because he does not like the relentless focus on his prospects for the papacy. Many consider Arinze a strong candidate because he would accelerate the pace of interreligious dialogue established by Pope John Paul II.

Arinze helped arrange John Paul's visit early this year to a mosque in Damascus, Syria. It was the first time ever that a pope had visited a mosque. And since September 11, Arinze has also organized numerous high-level meetings between Catholics, Jews and major Islamic organizations, including the World Muslim League, the World Muslim Congress and the Organization of Muslim Conferences.

"All these gatherings," he said, "condemned terrorism and encouraged dialogue." Both Christians and Muslims, he maintained, must be strong advocates of religious tolerance and freedom. And Arinze is a firm believer that Christians must do a better job now than they have in the past of living in a pluralistic culture, of respecting people of all religions and cultures.

Some of the best interreligious talks have nothing to do with abstract theological debate, Arinze told an audience November 18 at the end of his stay at Westminster Abbey. "When engaging in dialogue, people should not discuss dogma on the first day," he said, prompting laughs. Ordinary people engage in religious dialogue every time they talk to a neighbor of a different faith or play a soccer game with them, Arinze said. Begin with the practical, he said. "When the heart leads, the head follows."

In Arinze's view, there is almost no better way to engage Muslims and people of other faiths than by joining together with them on a project, such as a health clinic or cooperative venture, that improves society. While he strongly rejects what he calls the "relativistic" belief that "all religions are equal," he doesn't think Catholics should impose their religion on other cultures. The Catholic Church teaches, he said, that Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation. But like the Vatican, he also believes that the transforming power of Christ can work through other religions.

Arinze agrees to some extent with many of the world's Muslims who fearfully believe Western secular values are being imposed on them through globalization and the mass media. "The church is not in favor of the imposition of the culture of one people on other peoples, in past decades by colonialism and today by powerful mass media, which, by TV alone, quietly but effectively spread a whole philosophy of life that homogenizes culture," Arinze said. "The church is challenging such negative cultural elements as superstition, rugged individualism, materialism, hedonism, permissiveness and utilitarianism," he said. With a small chuckle, he concluded: "There is a tendency around the world today to copy TV culture. And that is not always a virtue."