“Every religion has a right to define itself in its own terms,” said author and Boston Globe columnist James Carroll speaking on “Islam: Threat or Gift? A Christian Perspective.” He delivered the first lecture for the new Merrimack College Center for the Study of Christian-Jewish-Muslim Relations on October 28.
“Islam has an opportunity to capitalize on the hope in America for mutual respect among peoples and for a sense of tolerance,” Carroll said while decrying those Muslin extremists who threaten and commit violence. He noted that not all Muslims are extremists and that “radical Islam is not Islam.”
Declaring that violence and wars threaten the very survival of the human species, he elaborated with an anthropological digest. From the archeological finding 15 billion years ago of a Kenyan tool, man made it into a weapon to hunt and kill animals for food. Being bothered by the bloodshed, man thereafter developed a conscience. Next came agriculture and man found that planting could replace killings. Then warfare over surplus foods led to religion.
Religion took the Bible as a sourcebook for grappling with warfare and violence. Carroll found God to be ambivalent. For example, the story of Noah was a violent episode when God sent a flood to destroy the world and then ambivalently repented his own violence and promised never to destroy the world again. Another example is when Abraham’s faith in God was tested by the sacrifice of Isaac. God ambivalently sent a ram as a substitute for human sacrifice. Carroll dwelled on Isaac’s question, namely, “Father, where is the offering?” Carroll then exclaimed, “Aren’t our children still being sacrificed in Iraq and Afghanistan!”
Regarding the concept of monotheism, the principle of one God, claimed by the three major faiths, Carroll considered it a threat and not a gift. He asked about the meaning of “one” and replied that one means God of all people. Yet one is a number that may be misconstrued to identify that the God of a particular religion is better than another’s. The oneness of God stands for the unity of the world.
Carroll served as Catholic chaplain at Boston University until the mid-1970s. He left the priesthood to pursue a literary career in 1974, which has brought him numerous top awards and a national reputation. His highly acclaimed “Constantine’s Sword: The Church and the Jews,” of 2001 has been made into a movie.
University of Notre Dame Associate Professor Asma Afsaruddin was next to come to the podium. She noted that Islam has been maligned as a violent religion, anti-democratic, anti-modern and likened to a growing cancer in the world. She pointed out that Arabic names, like Senator Barack Obama’s middle name “Hussein,” are often wrongly associated with violence.
Quoting from the Qur’an, Afsaruddin — who specializes in the religious and political thought of Islam, Qur’an and hadith studies, Islamic intellectual history and gender — referred to verses that promote freedom of conscience, inter-religious dialog, and respect for all places of religious worship. She painted a picture of Islam as a positive religion and a gift to mankind.
She raised eyebrows in the audience when she used the term “jihad,” often associated with holy war by radical Islamists. But according to Islamic tradition, “jihad” means a struggle to fulfill God’s will by such means as giving alms, going to work, and promoting the welfare of humans, she said.
Afsaruddin said “ummah” refers to a belief in a multifaith community and tolerance toward other religions. The ideals of Islam are to accept diversity and peaceful coexistence with others of different faiths, she said.
An audience member questioned whether the intent of jihadists was to convert everyone to Islam. Yes, Afsaruddin said, there are missionaries who want a Muslim world, but they are a minority. Afsaruddin added, with tongue in cheek, that she had no intention of converting the Merrimack College audience to Islam.
True to the spirit of the new interfaith center, the speakers and Moderator Rabbi Robert Goldberg concluded their remarks with the message of Shalom, Salaam, and peace.
Larry Lowenthal, executive director of the American Jewish Committee, commented after the event. “As a Board member of the newly expanded Christian-Jewish-Muslim Center at Merrimack College, I was deeply affected by the outstanding presentations by Jim Carroll, and Professor Afsaruddin. I have been deeply disturbed these last few years by the relentless demonizing of Islam as a religion and Muslims as a people, and I found these two analyses extremely helpful and encouraging.”
Lowenthal said he was impressed with Afsaruddin’s calm and lucid explanation of Islam and ‘apostasy,’ which stems from a theological misunderstanding by non-Muslims that has proven especially damaging to the image of Islam.
“We need far more enlightening presentations like that of Professor Afsaruddin to counter the current strains in interfaith relations here in Boston and in America as a nation,” Lowenthal said.
The lecture was co-sponsored by Facing History and Ourselves of Brookline.