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March 29, 2006

Lebanon: Jesuit Priest Claims Islam Denies Basic Human Rights

We reported yesterday that the Afghan Christian man Abdur Rahman, who was freed on a technicality from charges of apostasising from Islam had been the subject of talks in Italy to have him taken in as an asylum-seeker. Today AKI states that the Italian cabinet has approved Mr Rahman's asylum request.

But the issue, even if it hopefully allows Mr Rahman a chance of a new life, without the threats of death made against him by barbarian Islamic clerics, leaves Westerners with some devastating images of Islam at its most barbaric and most hostile to our fundamental notions of justice.

Today, William Buckley writes a cogent critique of Islam in Afghanistan, found on Yahoo News, in which he sates:

Australia's prime minister wants the Afghan government to renounce the thought of executing someone for exercising religious liberty. So do prominent leaders in Germany, Great Britain and Italy. The Afghan court sidestepped the main issue by releasing Rahman on a technicality. If it arises again, the challenge for the United States will be to devise a means of saying to the Afghan government: You cannot do this. Not while we're around.

But the surprise critique of Islam's current trend towards barbarism and totalitarianism comes from an unexpected source, a Jesuit priest who lives in Lebanon and has been an ardent proponent of Islamic/Christian dialoque. When a Catholic who has spent much of his life arguing for rights of Muslims states that Islam denies the most basic of human rights, it is time to take notice.

Father Samir Khalil Samir (pictured above) is a professor of Oriental Theology at St Joseph's University in Lebanon. Born in Cairo, Father Samir also teaches at the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome, and i s a founder and leader of the Centre for Arab-Christian Documentation and Research (CEDRAC).

Today's Catholic World News summarises his current article, in which he criticises Sharia Law as being against human rights thus:

If shari'a kills a man who changes religion, argues Father Samir Khalil Samir, SJ, it is to be condemned and cannot be the principle inspiring law, in that it destroys any ideal of coexistence and contradicts the UN declaration on human rights, approved in 1948 by almost all Muslim countries. He argues that the West can no longer remain silent in the face of Islamic fundamentalist regimes that routinely violate human rights, especially in matters of religious liberty.

Father Samir states in his essay, which is entitled "Islam humiliates religious freedom of Christians and human rights of Muslims. It's time for change" that Article 18 of the UN Declaration of Human Rights specifies: "Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance."

Father Samir writes in today's e-edition of Asia News that

"if Islam is a political project, a movement that uses even the most extreme violence, then it must be fought politically. And, most of all, it would be necessary to no longer call it a religion, a spiritual movement that helps man to create peace. There is in fact in Islam a strong ambiguity to which attention must be drawn: at times, Muslims speak in spiritual terms ("Islam means peace (salam), coexistence, tolerance etc...."); other times, they act politically, justifying violent choices."

His words pull no punches. They are the same arguments that those of us who oppose Islam and its political march over human rights and freedoms have long espoused, but this is the first time such a senior figure in Pope Benedict's church has really spoken honestly on this subject. He says:

We cannot keep silent or continue to speak of Islam in an ambiguous fashion, defining Islam as a religion that "speaks of peace and tolerance," hiding the verses that encourage violence and brutal killings. Such an ambiguous behaviour is shameful to those who adopt it and to those who keep silent."

An earlier interview with Father Shamir can be found here, but I urge all our visitors to read: Islam humiliates religious freedom of Christians and human rights of Muslims. It's time for change.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at March 29, 2006 4:57 PM

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