“these profess to hold the faith of Abraham”
It does not say they hold the same faith as Abraham just that they
profess that faith. If they deny the trinity they are not the True faith and do not believe in the True God as was revealed to us by Christ. Muhammed is a false prophet and Islam is a false religion.
As for the violence in islam please check out the following websites:
jihadwatch.org
dhimmiwatch.com
hotair.com/archives/2007/05/26/hot-air-introduces-blogging-the-quran/
God bless and welcome to CA!
I think that the meanning of the words from the Catechism are very clear: Muslims acknowledge and worship with Catholics, Christians, and Jews “the one, merciful God.” I do not think that the words “those who profess to hold the faith of Abraham” are in any way meant to question whether they really do hold the fath of Abraham, they are clearly meant to assert that Muslims, along with Jews and Christians, are all part of the same Abrahamic tradation, the core of which, is worship of the one God.
Furthermore, if one examines the writings, statements, and actions of the Catholic hierarchy, Pope Benedict for example, it should be abundantly clear that Islam is seen as a legitmate word religion, to be treated with respect, not the derision that is so prevalent on this thread. For example, on his trip to Turkey just after the controversy over the Danish cartoons, the Holy Father visited the Blue Mosque and turned to Mecca, bowing his head respectfully, as the Muslims with him prayed. I find it hard to believe that the Holy Father would have done this if he, or the Church, held Islam to be “false religion.” Also, the Holy Father ammended his remarks from his speech at the University of Regensburg to say that the Byzantine emperor’s remarks regarding Islam were made with a “a
brusqueness that we find unacceptable.” Benedict added in a footnote: “*In the Muslim world, this quotation has unfortunately been taken as an expression of my personal position, thus arousing understandable indignation. I hope that the reader of my text can see immediately *
that this sentence does not express my personal view of the Quran, for which I have the respect due to the holy book of a great religion.” Clearly, the Holy Father, does not find Islam to be a evil religion. I would say that his opinion is likely to be consistent with offical Catholic teaching on the matter.
Thank you for suggesting the websites you mentioned. I am aware of them, and have read the threads at Jihad Watch fairly extensively. The stuff they’re saying about Islam on those sites makes what’s being said here sound like statements of love for Mohammed (frankly, hearing that we should nuke Mecca and Medina, ban Muslim immigration, and not allow Muslims to serve in public office didn’t sit well with my conceptions of Christian love or American democratic ideals). While I certainly agree that Robert Spencer raises legitmate concerns regarding passages in the Qur’an that condone violence against non-Muslims, I think he unfairly ignores passages that condemn such violence (in case anyone asks, I cannot remember off the top of my head the exact citations of these passages, but they do exist. Again, I would suggest reading El Fadl’s book for a more detailed look at the whole subject.)
The Holy Father has repeatedly said that respectful dialouge with Muslims is essential to living in peace in this world. Just because Muslim extremists do not live up to this, does not mean we Catholics don’t have to.
God Bless
(oh and I got the Holy Father’s ammended remarks from Belief net, heres the url:
beliefnet.com/story/201/story_20104_1.html)
