EDITORIAL Anti-Islam slurs remind Catholics of the past
Islam and Roman Catholicism, each
billions strong, are the equivalent of religious superpowers.
Superpower then is one of the contexts into which TV
preacher Pat Robertsons latest salvo -- accusing Islam of being a
religion of violence bent on world domination -- should be placed.
(Russian Orthodox protestations against the Vaticans establishing
dioceses in that vast nation are, in a way, reverberations of this religious
superpower fear.)
The second context for considering Robertsons remark is that
of the United States itself. And here, Catholicism in the United States can
offer some historic pointers to Islam in the United States.
First, it isnt sufficient to note that America
constitutionally enshrines religious freedoms. Whatever the document says, the
American populace retains its own reservations until convinced otherwise.
Two hundred years ago, the Irish swarmed into New York City. They
were entering a city in which an American flag once raised in Manhattan had the
U.S. colors on one side, and No popery on the other.
The anti-Catholicism of the early decades of the 19th century was
very much rooted in Protestant fears that immigration would turn this into a
Catholic country dictated to by the pope in Rome.
As the century proceeded, the anti-Catholicism worsened.
Not until the mid 20th century -- urged on by the reforms of the
Second Vatican Council (1962-65) and the example of John F. Kennedys
presidency -- did Catholics prove themselves and explain themselves as
Americans to the bulk of Protestant America.
Through their good works they had also simultaneously developed a
track record that offset much of the suspicion.
Even then, something else had to be cleared up first. It
wasnt sufficient to be a good Catholic citizen. Catholicism had to reveal
itself to be a good religion. Good meaning
tolerant.
That hadnt been the case before. Catholicisms disdain
for Protestants and its Christ-killer charges and intolerance
toward Jews won it no friends in either religious camp.
Gradually, publicly, through word and deed, Catholicism began to
reform itself, to explain itself and -- certainly where the Jews were concerned
-- to finally apologize.
Worldwide and domestically, Islam contends with the shadows cast
by the World Trade Center. Say what one might, these are shadows that refuse to
dissolve themselves in those Western and American minds suspicious about
Islams intent. Robertsons remarks reflect more than Robertson.
The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee rightly called
Robertsons remarks anti-Semitism with Muslims in the place of
Jews (See story, Page 9).
But the anti-discrimination committee might equally have equated
those remarks with the No popery of two centuries ago as
Robertsons fundamentalist forbears -- simultaneously occupied with
closing down New Yorks theaters -- busily lobbied their anti-Catholicism
wherever they could get an audience.
Robertson is not tolerant. He is lobbying his anti-Islamic views
wherever he has an audience. And he has an audience because many people in it
arent quite sure what Islam actually is about.
We might lament this ignorance, this not-knowing, but we cannot
deny it exists.
American Muslims and their supporters, and those supporters
include the U.S Catholic church, need to acknowledge and then deal with the
fact that just as there is a lingering yet not predominant anti-Catholicism
today, and a lingering but not predominant anti-Semitism, there will be a
lingering anti-Islamic sentiment.
Islam, however, as a recently arrived religion in this country
still has to convince some of the populace at large it is benign. Proving that
does not mean it has to alter its essential tenets.
It means that Islam in America has to keep proving itself in word
and deed. Just as other religions have done, and continue to do.
This proof is necessary because the basis of religious toleration
in the United States among everyday Americans is a factor called show
me.
Americans dont know about Islam.
Americans are learning, but only a little bit at a time.
And that allows nonsense-spewers like Robertson a larger audience
than they deserve for preaching that reflects demagoguery not rare in the
American religion story.
Our Muslim American friends and neighbors need our support. And
they have it. They also need to know that the trials they are experiencing are
not new to them, nor new to the American religion scene.
National Catholic Reporter, March 8,
2002
|