e017 Now Oxford Review “tecnica tie “en erate new OxXfORO Review Feature Article THE U.S. BISHOPS’ CATHOLIC-MUSLIM DIALOGUE The Interfaith Delusion By Timothy D. Lusch ‘April 2017 Timothy D. Lusch is an attomey and writer. His work has appeared in Saint Austin Review, New English Review, and Chronicles, and at CatholicExchange.com and Crisis.com. He blogs at www.piyitspthy.com. Eu, Note: This is the frstin a three-part series on the Catholic Church and Islam, “Itis neither a culture of confrontation nor a culture of conflict which builds harmony within and between peoples, but rather a culture of encounter and a Culture of dialogue; thisis the only way to peace.” — Pope Francis, Sept. 1,2013, “All the pure blood that has been shed in raq for decades... Against whom are they waging jihad? They are waging jihad against the Christian American presence in Iraq... In general, | consider them to be mujahedeen for the sake of Allah, who are driving out the infidels who invaded their lands.” — Sheik ‘Muhammad Al-Suhaybani, imam of the Prophet's Mosque in Medina, Saudi Arabia, Aug. 30, 2014 For some time now, Catholics have been told that terrorist violence has nothing to do with islam and that Islam is a religion of peace. To insist otherwise, even with irrefutable evidence from sacred Islamic texts and proclamations of Muslim clerics, Is to risk being maligned as bigoted, Islamophobic, or prejudiced, Our collective witness of Muslim-perpetrated beheadings, bombings, mass shootings, vehicular assault of crowds of bystanders, gang rapes, infibulation of young girs, tossing of gays off buildings, burning alive of captives, and slaying of Catholic priests at Mass is explained away as an enigmatic nexus of mental lines and the ever- popular yet undefinable “valent extremism.” One expects to hear this sort of thing from religiously ignorant news media. But, as practicing Catholles, to hear trom ‘our Church hierarchy is disconcerting. One expects more from a highly educated clerical class. Perhaps one expects too much How can so many Islamic texts and clerics be wrong? How can so many Catholic bishops with litle or no education in Islam be right? We are directed by our bishops and our Pope to disregard Sheik Muhammad Al-Suhayban's praise of the mujahedeon fighting for the sake of Allah in aq —and this includes soldiers of the Islamic State (ISIS) — in favor of a more pleasant, euphemistic, and postmodern narrative about Islam. Tellingly, this falsehood is predominantly bandied aboutin the West, There is no need to elide the nature of Islam in countries where itis practiced, often violently, by the majority. Consider the ‘ongoing war between Sunni and Shiite factions throughout the Middle East. tis only in the West, where mass Muslim migration intersects with secularized societies and pluralistic populations, that explanations are necessary. ‘And 0 we increasingly hear platitude-flled narratives from bishops that sound a lotlike official statements from the Hamas-linked Council on American-isiamic. Relations (CAIR). High-level interrelgious dialogue between Catholics and Muslims has devolved into a monologue thats neither Catholic nor Islamic. thas become an exercise in what former Joint Chiefs of Staffinteligence analyst ‘Stephen Coughlin calls “interfaith delusion." tis time for the Catholic faithful to question the Church's interreligious efforts, particularly those of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), vis-a-vis Islam, with respect to its goals and choice of dialogue partners. hitpihwwwnewoxterdrevew-erglaricle|sp?prin= 18d 0417-usch we017 Now Oxford Review In February 2016, the USCCB inaugurated a national dialogue with Muslim partners. The initial event, a public discussion held at the University of San Diego's Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice, included Bishop Robert W. McElroy of San Diego and Sayyid M, Syeed, national director of the Islamic Society of North America's (ISNA) Office for interfaith and Community Alliances, ‘An outgrowth of three regional dialogues, the national effortis overseen by the. USCCB's Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Afars. You have two options: 1. Online subscription: Subscribe now to New Oxford Review for access to all web content at newoxfordreview.org AND the monthly print edition for as low as $38 per year. 2, Single article purchase: Purchase this article for $1.95, for viewing and printing for 48 hours. Iryourre already a subscriber log-in hore. Back to April 2017 Issue ‘Subscriber Comments Read our posting policy Adda comment Be the frstto comment on this story! © 2017 New Oxford Review. All Rights Reserved. April 2017, Volume LXXXIV, Number3. hitpihwwwnewoxterdrevew-erglaricle|sp?prin= 18d 0417-usch oa