As Catholic Christians, what are we to think about the Muslim faith that spawns terrorism?

[jjones]

As a Catholic, we are taught to love thy neighbor. My question is how are we supposed to repond to Muslims when terrorist acts, commited by thier faithful, are killing people all over the world?

 

[Usbek_de_Perse]

As a Catholic, we are taught to love thy neighbor. My question is how are we supposed to repond to Muslims when terrorist acts, commited by thier faithful, are killing people all over the world?

Catholic Christians should respond to Muslims the same way all Christians should. We should be loving and respectful of people who worship the same God that we do. Most Muslims have no more to do with al-Qa’ida than do most Christians with the KKK.

Islam, whatever you wish to think about it, is responsible for a great civilization. Islam has peaceful, passionate defenders just as Christianity has.

We do not do ourselves any favors by confusing the acts of a few Muslims with the rest of the Muslim world. They constitute a large segment of humanity and it is in our own interest to form relationships of respect and courtesy with them.

Anything else would be un-Christian.

 

[Usbek_de_Perse]

Here here!

 

[Charlie_Zeaiter]

As a Catholic, we are taught to love thy neighbor. My question is how are we supposed to repond to Muslims when terrorist acts, commited by thier faithful, are killing people all over the world?

Love thy neighbor is the way to respond to Muslims.

 

[Byzantine_Wolf]

To fulfill another old cliche: “Preaching to the choir.”

The worst thing we could possibly do is resolve ourselves with, “Well you wanna roll around in the mud, let’s roll around in the mud.” You bring up an excellent point in your previous post about Christ growing up in a world of violence and surrounded by people who expected a military messiah. Christ taught something more: He taught a spiritual freedom, not a political one. That is the freedom we seek in the face of violence, terrorism or other acts of aggression. It is the only freedom we should seek.

 

[steg]

As a Catholic, we are taught to love thy neighbor. My question is how are we supposed to repond to Muslims when terrorist acts, commited by thier faithful, are killing people all over the world?

I find it very interesting that you ask this, considering the history of the church… not so fun to on the receiving end of religious zealotry. Montheists in general believe their diety is the ‘One True God’… and is usually unwilling to tolerate any other belief. These days, its the fanatical muslims that are running rampant… used to be fanatical christians.

Be that as it may… not all muslims are nutjobs, just like all christians are not wacko fanatics, although any religion has their fair share of them.

How do I respond to muslims, or christians or whoever? Simple. Respect their right to believe as they wish, respect their humanity and treat them as you’d want to be treated.

 

[KathleenGee]

I think the Franciscans have the right way…mutual tolerance of faith and peaceful coexistence…but when it comes to defending…most Palestinian Christians are leaving after being there for 2,000 years…

Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood…these kinds…it appears prayer and penance…but it can lead to war because they are so violent and bad. A son of a Hamas leader says they will implode on themselves in 10 years…

Best remedy is to be a true Christian following the gospel…prayer and fasting…to avoid war.

 

[KathleenGee]

My father pulled away after learning more about what was going on Ireland…we foreigners hear the news in stereotypes…

 

[Reuben_J]

Catholic Christians should respond to Muslims the same way all Christians should. We should be loving and respectful of people who worship the same God that we do. Most Muslims have no more to do with al-Qa’ida than do most Christians with the KKK.

**Islam, whatever you wish to think about it, is responsible for a great civilization. Islam has peaceful, passionate defenders just as Christianity has. **

We do not do ourselves any favors by confusing the acts of a few Muslims with the rest of the Muslim world. They constitute a large segment of humanity and it is in our own interest to form relationships of respect and courtesy with them.

Anything else would be un-Christian.

While I quite agree with most of the posts here, this however I am not too sure. It is another generalization albeit on the opposite end of the spectrum.

Muslims are not terrorists but neither they are peaceful or great civilization. Some do, some don’t.

 

[rdscheirer]

Read “The Truth about Mohammed” I forget the author but he’s in hiding. He is a scholar of the Arabic language and went back to the Koran and Hadiths and the commentaries written near the time of the Mohammad. The way he lays it out historically is that Mohammed wanted to be a prophet in the Judeo-Christian tradition. When he first started out he was welcomed and encouraged but as he became more dogmatic in opposition to the Judeo-Christian teaching he began to hate the Jews and Christians. His early “writings”(was he illiterate) embraced the people of the Book(Bible) but when they would not follow him he turned to violence.

 

[jjones]

Read “The Truth about Mohammed” I forget the author but he’s in hiding. He is a scholar of the Arabic language and went back to the Koran and Hadiths and the commentaries written near the time of the Mohammad. The way he lays it out historically is that Mohammed wanted to be a prophet in the Judeo-Christian tradition. When he first started out he was welcomed and encouraged but as he became more dogmatic in opposition to the Judeo-Christian teaching he began to hate the Jews and Christians. His early “writings”(was he illiterate) embraced the people of the Book(Bible) but when they would not follow him he turned to violence.

Thank you for your (name removed by moderator)ut. It was very interesting. I see it as violence vs Love in comparing the two religions, however I am not nor do I want to be well read in the Koran. May our Lord’s peace be with you…jkj

 

[Steven_John]

As a Catholic, we are taught to love thy neighbor. My question is how are we supposed to repond to Muslims when terrorist acts, commited by thier faithful, are killing people all over the world?

Why do you suppose “committed by their faithful” If a christian Kills do saying they are called by G-d to do so would you suppose them to be a faithful Christian?

 

[MyzTek]

Thank you for your (name removed by moderator)ut. It was very interesting. I see it as violence vs Love in comparing the two religions, however I am not nor do I want to be well read in the Koran. May our Lord’s peace be with you…jkj

If you are not well read in the Quran, then how can you assert that terrorist acts are “commited by thier faithful”? You would have to know the Quran in order to make a determination that someone committing an act was or was not being “faithful” to its teachings. I have read the Quran in numerous translations and from those studies it seems to me that terrorists are not faithful to Islam. There is a significant Muslim population in my city, and my Muslim friends and acquaintances tell me the same thing.

I would recommend you check out the book Origins of Terrorism: Psychologies, Ideologies, Theologies, States of Mind (edited by Walter Reich) at you local library. It will give you a much deeper understanding of why terrorists do what they do. It usually has less to do with religion than the religious rhetoric used to justify their actions would seem to imply.

I would agree with previous posters ITT that the best response is always Christ-like: a loving response. Of course this is not the easiest…

peace,
MyzTek

edit: Walter Reich is a psychologist, senior scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and former director of the US Holocaust Memorial Museum.

 

[Byzantine_Wolf]

If you are not well read in the Quran, then how can you assert that terrorist acts are “commited by thier faithful”? You would have to know the Quran in order to make a determination that someone committing an act was or was not being “faithful” to its teachings. I have read the Quran in numerous translations and from those studies it seems to me that terrorists are not faithful to Islam. There is a significant Muslim population in my city, and my Muslim friends and acquaintances tell me the same thing.

On the other hand, I’ve had Muslims tell me (in my Muslim days) that groups like Hamas follow the sunnah of the prophet faithfully and that Allah will curse me for saying they aren’t real Muslims.

I have studied the Quran and the hadith sources as well, and it would not surprise me if it were true that many terrorist groups today were following the model. When you have passages like S. 9:29, which says to fight people who do not believe in Islam - even Jews and Christians - until they pay the jizya (a tax on non-Muslims simply because they weren’t Muslim) and feel “brought low” or “subdued” or “in a state of subjection” (depending on which translation you read) then it’s easy to understand that Muslims such as the one I encountered have a point.