WASHINGTON, 22 September 2006 — Muslims and Christian groups held a joint press conference here on Wednesday night to express their hopes that reason would prevail over anger regarding Pope Benedict XVI’s comments last week.
“Violence is not the answer,” said Imam Mahdi Bray, of the Washington DC-based Muslim American Society (MAS). “We cannot demonstrate that Islam is not a violent religion by reacting violently. We firmly condemn the burning of churches and actions of violence.”
Speaking to journalists during a joint press conference between the MAS and Christian groups in Washington, Bray added that the Muslim community must “move on and practice good common sense.”
David Robinson, executive director of Pax Christi USA, the largest Catholic movement for justice and peace in the US, said: “The statement by Pope Benedict last week included a reference to an ancient characterization of Islam that I personally find very regrettable.”
Robinson called for the need of “a continued dialogue between our two faiths,” and announced that he, and members of Pax Christi, would join Muslims in fasting during the month of Ramadan as a show of solidarity and understanding of Muslim priorities.
Three days after saying he was “very sorry” about the reaction to his remarks delivered last week in Germany, Pope Benedict again tried to clarify them.
“I wished to explain that not religion and violence, but religion and reason, go together,” he said adding that he hoped he had made clear his “profound respect for world religions and for Muslims.”
“This quotation, unfortunately, was misunderstood,” he said from Vatican City on Wednesday, alluding to protests and attacks on churches by offended Muslims.
In a speech last week, the pontiff quoted a 14th-century Byzantine emperor, who declared that the teachings of the Prophet (pbuh) brought “things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.”
Many American Muslims have accepted the pope’s apology, and said the time has come to move on.
“We believe the pope’s apology is sufficient as apologies go, but we are concerned as to what deeds will move us forward,” said Bray. “I am concerned that there has been a tendency here to say Islam is a religion of violence ... Unfortunately, when it comes to violence, the devil is an equal opportunity employer.”
Phil Jones, director of the Church of the Brethren Witness, told journalists at the briefing “it is important and vital that we communicate and serve with one another across religious understandings.”
“I think his problem is that he’s a German academic who hasn’t realized yet he’s a pope,” said Rev. Thomas J. Reese of the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University. “He’s an extremely bright man, but he doesn’t have any street smarts.”
Before becoming pope, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger focused on protecting Christianity as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, a position in which he became known as a hard-line enforcer of church orthodoxy.
The Rev. Jeffrey R. Keyes, a priest at St. Edward Catholic Church in Newark, New Jersey, told reporters that most of the reaction is based on what was quoted in the media, rather than the totality of his address.
“When you compare his efforts to reach out to the Muslims to those of the previous pope, there’s a lot to be desired,” said Ibrahim Hooper, National Communications Director of the Council of American-Islamic Relations, CAIR. “We hope that the incident is not a signal of things to come.”
Throughout the United States, many local Catholic leaders have agreed to meet with representatives of the Muslim community, Hooper said. For example, Cardinal Roger Mahony, the archbishop of Los Angeles, met with a council representing 70 mosques in Southern California.
