‘Clash of civilisations’ not inevitable

Sydney
17 August 2003

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‘Clash of civilisations’ not inevitable

Fr Frank Brennan, left, with seminar speakers Prof Abdullah Saeed and Fry Dan Madigan

A “clash of civilisations” between the Christian West and the Islamic East is not inevitable, even though some Muslims are threatening world peace in the name of what they consider to be Islam, says Fry Dan Madigan of the Gregorian University in Rome.

The witness of history is that major world conflicts have been between groups professing the same religion, he said.

Dan Madigan, an Australian Jesuit who is the director of the Institute for the Study of Religions and Cultures at the Gregorian University, was speaking in the national Jesuit seminar series Muslims and Christians - where do we all stand?

He told the audience at St Aloysius’ College, Milson’s Point, that when asking the question posed in the seminar title we should speak about Muslims and Christians - about people, about believers - rather than abstract ideological systems.

There are major theological differences between Islam and Christianity, he said, but we share much in common.

“The most important common belief we share is that the Word of God has been spoken in our world,” he said.

“For the Muslim, God has spoken his word in Arabic in the Quran. For Christians, on the other hand, God’s word is spoken not primarily in words but in the flesh - in ‘body language’ as it were.”

Prof Abdullah Saeed, head of Arabic and Islamic Studies at the University of Melbourne, agreed that Christians and Muslims held a lot in common - the Jewish religious tradition, belief in one God, God’s revelation in Scripture, and acknowledgment of the importance of Jesus.

Although it is important to emphasise these positives, he said, the religious traditions of Christianity and Islam do not have to be identical.

“But with so much common ground between them,” he added, “Muslims and Christians can talk to each other and work together on issues such as social justice and human rights both here in Australia and elsewhere.”

In the wake of September 11, 2001, Prof Saeed said: “Many Muslims are worried about the direction of the rhetoric of the so-called ‘war on terror’ and the legislative and regulative environment into which we are moving.

“Many also feel that in Australia, now, being visibly Muslim is a problem.”

Jesuit lawyer Frank Brennan responded to the two keynote speakers, saying that such exchange between Muslims and Christians helped “put a human face on the ‘other’, breaking down the barriers between ‘us’ and ‘them’.”

Given Australia’s geographic isolation and history, the fear of the ‘other’ was deep-seated in the Australian psyche.

Fry Brennan claimed that the response to the Afghan and Iraqi boat-people who had turned up on Australian shores was excessively harsh because they were swarthy-skinned Muslims.

A more compassionate response would have been forthcoming from the Australian government and public if the asylum-seekers had been white Christian Zimbabwean farmers.

Prof Saeed and Dr Madigan said interreligious dialogue has challenged them to think more deeply about their own religion.

They had to grapple with words and concepts in an effort to communicate.

Dr Madigan said that his study of Islam had “taken him deeper into Christian philosophy and the world at large”.

The full texts from the 2004 Jesuit Seminar Series will appear in the September edition of the Jesuit publication Eureka Street and also in September on the website of Uniya, the Jesuit social justice centre, www.uniya.org