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May 5, 2006
Australia: Aftershocks of Cardinal Pell's Statements on Islam
Following the unveiling yesterday of Cardinal Pell's speech titled Islam and Western Democracies, we can observe the effects on Australian society.
As is to be expected, Cardinal Pell has had to answer to the automatic accusation of ignorance:
The Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell, says he is committed to maintaining a positive dialogue with Muslims.Cardinal Pell has come under fire for comments on Islam he made to a group of Catholic businessmen in the United States earlier this year.[..]
[...]Cardinal Pell has rejected suggestions he is uninformed about Islam.
"Isolated suggestions that I am uninformed on Islam are cliches, smokescreens to distract, to divert attention rather than address basic issues which need to be discussed," he said in a statement.
Prime Minister John Howard has decided to: stand by Cardinal Pell:
Prime Minister John Howard is standing by Australia's top Catholic, as Islamic and other groups question Cardinal George Pell's remarks about the intolerance of the Muslim faith and the Koran's "invocations to violence".[..][...]Mr Howard said he knew for a fact that Cardinal Pell has been "a strong proponent of good relations between Christianity and Islam".
"I think any kind of analysis that somebody makes from his position, and he brings a great intellect to the analysis he makes ... I'm quite sure he is not trying to be unhelpful," Mr Howard told Southern Cross Broadcasting.
On the other hand, the usual suspects have decided to smear Cardinal Pell:
[..]Keysar Trad, founder of the Islamic Friendship Association of Australia, says this is not the first time Cardinal Pell has made "ill-informed comments"."I've already had one meeting with him after he made some uninformed comments about Islam in the past," says Mr Trad.
"And my door is open to have further meetings with him, and to explain to him in more detail.
"If he was to approach this with an objective mind then he would find this to be a very spiritually rewarding experience.[..]
Hopefully the Australian people will be able to see past the platitudes and will begin to see the awful truth about Islam. Because in his speech, Cardinal Pell was fundamentally correct.
Posted by Ruy Diaz at May 5, 2006 4:19 PM
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