Co-operating With Other Religions

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Lavenderson

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Imagine you are a correctional officer in prison on a night shift.

During one of your well-being checks, you notice a written message on the window of a cell door. The sleeping inmate inside has requested to be woken up at 230am for his prayers. This inmate is Muslim.

As a Catholic, you want to be kind and assist the inmate in the good practice of prayer. But ultimately, there is only one truth, possessed solely within the Catholic Church, and outside of the Catholic Church there is no salvation. So, it feels somewhat wrong assisting someone of another religion in furthering themselves within that religion, not only for their soul, but yours also.

What do you do? Passively participate by waking the inmate up for prayers of a religion void of the one truth, or ignore the request?
 
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Salibi said:
I would wake him up for no other reason than that he asked to be woken up at that time.
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I would agree if the message written on the cell door only asked to be woken up without giving the reason why. But if it is well-known that the inmate is muslim and the message states the reason for the request (“please wake me up at 230am for my prayers”), would it not feel like passive participation?
 
I fail to see how. And the way I see it, the extremely petty action of ignoring his request will for sure hamper his conversion to Catholicism. So one might argue that on me is part of the blame for this guy not converting.
 
Salibi said:
I fail to see how. And the way I see it, the extremely petty action of ignoring his request will for sure hamper his conversion to Catholicism. So one might argue that on me is part of the blame for this guy not converting.
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With all due respect, this makes zero sense to me.
 
You’re telling this guy why you’re not waking him up, right?

If I ask a Catholic to wake me up for dawn prayers and he doesn’t because I’m a Muslim, I wouldn’t gain much respect or interest in Catholicism.
 
Salibi said:
You’re telling this guy why you’re not waking him up, right?
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You would wake him up to tell him why you’re not waking him up?
Salibi said:
If I ask a Catholic to wake me up for dawn prayers and he doesn’t because I’m a Muslim, I wouldn’t gain much respect or interest in Catholicism.
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Imagine a criminal asks you to stay on the look out for him while he robs a store, and you refuse to help. The criminal then blames his lack of respect/interest for law-abiding behavior on your refusal to passively participate in his unlawful behavior. Sounds weird right?
 
Cecilia_Dympna said:
He’s not being a criminal though. He’s praying.
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Let me change the scenario for the sake of argument. The inmate is no longer Muslim. Now the inmate is a Satanist, and wants you to wake him up so he can perform satanic prayers. As a Catholic, would you still wake him up?
 
Cecilia_Dympna said:
However, yes I’d wake the fella up. Because he asked to be awoken.
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“I am the Lord thy God, thou shalt not have any strange gods before Me”… assisting someone to break any of the Commandments, let alone the first, doesn’t sound right.
 
Lavenderson said:
You would wake him up to tell him why you’re not waking him up?
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?
Lavenderson said:
Imagine a criminal asks you to stay on the look out for him while he robs a store, and you refuse to help. The criminal then blames his lack of respect/interest for law-abiding behavior on your refusal to passively participate in his unlawful behavior. Sounds weird right?
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Are you seriously comparing a Muslim praying to a criminal robbing a shop?
 
Salibi said:
Are you seriously comparing a Muslim praying to a criminal robbing a shop?
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The Law commands “I am the Lord thy God, thou shalt not have any strange gods before Me”. If I help a criminal break an earthly law, I am as guilty as the criminal. Likewise if I help a non-Christian break a Heavenly Law, I’m also equally guilty.

Islam denies the divinity of Jesus Christ, which is equal to denying God Himself. How would assisting anyone in a religion that denies God be morally right?
 
Out of courtesy, kindness, and common decency, you wake him up for prayer at the time he requested. It is also a favor that is part of doing your job in an equitable manner. You’re not there to convert him or teach him about your religion.
 
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Lavenderson said:
What do you do?
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What do I do ?

Firstly I take note of this Sunday’s Gospel reading in which a lawyer asks : " Who is my neighbour ?"

Jesus gives the answer by telling the Parable of the Good Samaritan .

Jews hated Samaritans . They weren’t true believers .

To add to that , if I am still confused by Jesus’s words , which I shouldn’t be because they are quite clear , I might look to popes for guidance . Like Pope John Paul II’s words to Muslims when he said " I deliberately address you as brothers ."

So I would act like a brother and a neighbour .
 
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meltzerboy2 said:
It is also a favor that is part of doing your job in an equitable manner. You’re not there to convert him or teach him about your religion.
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Favors are not part of a correctional officer’s job. You’re not there to convert anyone, but you also not under any obligation to endorse another person’s religion.
 
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Your job demands a certain degree of equity in the way you treat inmates. No, you are not there to coddle them, but, on the other hand, you have no right to make their life tougher than it already is. If praying at a certain time of day does not require excessive accommodation, it is the kind and courteous thing to do to wake him up, as you would an inmate who had to recite morning prayers as part of any another religion not your own, for example, Judaism. You are not there to play favorites with those who are of your own faith. You are there to do your job fairly and justly.
 
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Lavenderson said:
So, it feels somewhat wrong assisting someone of another religion in furthering themselves within that religion, not only for their soul, but yours also.
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No, it doesn’t feel wrong to me. Not in the slightest. Maybe, though, instead of a Muslim, it was a Satanist …
 
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