Pope John Paul II on Islam

Submitted by Linda (United States), Jul 5, 2006 at 16:49

From Crossing The Threshold of Hope, by Pope John Paul II, 1994, edited by Vittorio Messori:

"Whoever knows the Old and New Testaments, and then reads the Koran, clearly sees the process by which it completely reduces Divine Revelation...Some of the most beautiful names in the human language are given to the God of the Koran, but He is ultimately a God outside of the world, a God who is only Majesty, never Emmanuel, God-with-us. Islam is not a religion of redemption. "

Although the Pope says, "the religiosity of Muslims deserves respect," he says, "not only the theology but also the anthropology of Islam is very distant from Christianity."

He went on to say:

"In countries where fundamentalist movements come to power, human rights and the principle of religious freedom are unfortunately interpreted in a very one-sided way -- religious freedom comes to mean freedom to impose on all citizens the 'true religion.'"

And he wrote, "Fundamentalist attitudes of this nature make reciprocal contacts very difficult."

On the other hand, the Pope said of Judaism, that is "closest to our own" in theology and as far as the state of Israel, he said, "As for the recognition of the State of Israel, it is important to reaffirm that I myself never had any doubts in this regard."

He continues to explain movingly more in depth his feelings for Judaism. But the important part of it for Muslims to understand is that all of the "interfaith dialogue" in the world -- and their demonizing of Jewish people -- won't change these very deep realities of solidarity.

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