{This article explores Spain’s Islamic legacy and how this history impacts the experiences of the latest wave of Muslim immigrants. According to the author, the Catholicization of the country (beginning in the 13th Century) involved a concerted effort by the Church to expel or convert threatening elements from its midst, including Jews and Muslims. Though…
Most critics of Pope Benedict XVI’s University of Regenburg speech draw attention to his misrepresentation of Islam; these criticisms overlook his more passionate dismissal of European secularism–an area ironically in which he and many Muslims may find common ground. Muslims in Europe have brought to the surface the anti-religious nature of European secularism. Both struggle…
Pope Benedict XVI declared Friday in the Vatican that the Muslim world must accept human rights and the freedom of religion as the Catholic Church had been forced to do in the past. “The Muslim world is posed today with an urgent task, quite similar to the one that was posed to Christians at the…
The head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales risked a new clash with Muslims yesterday by questioning whether Turkey should be admitted to the European Union. Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor echoed Pope Benedict XVI in saying that the predominantly Muslim state was not culturally part of Europe.
The Catholic Church in Germany must help Muslim migrants integrate into society, but the Church also can learn from these recent newcomers, said the general secretary of the German bishops’ working group on relations with Muslims. “We can learn a lot from the Muslims: about piety, about hospitality or about the education of children within…
