A Dialogue with Islam but with the denunciation of fundamentalism

In a speech, Cardinal Angelo Scola commented on the image of the boundary, proposed as the theme for the tenth meeting of the Scientific Committee of the Oasis Foundation. The two days of meetings also mark the tenth anniversary of the Oasis organization, conceived by Scola; the meeting and anniversary brought together some seventy scholars, Christians and Muslims. And it is the reality of the contemporary period especially with echoes of the protests in Turkey, and with complete transition far from being accomplished in the countries following the riots of 2011 – which all confirmed the basis of the Oasis Foundation: that we are in a delicate moment of transition.

Christians and Muslims are increasingly faced with the need create two opposite poles, both of which are dangerous: that of a secularism that – in the words of the French philosopher Rémi Brague, who spoke yesterday at the meeting “persuades those to disregard the question of God.”

In this context the archbishop was asked about the issue of the construction of a possible mosque in Milan: “The right to religious freedom fails if we refuse to provide places of worship” the cardinal explained “But to apply it in practice, the authorities have the task of verifying who is in command. And the mosque must fit in context. For example, a mosque should not be built on a building that housed a church.”

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