AmericanPapist Comments
Sounds like more foolishness from Cardinal Bertone. His letter--which will be perceived in the Muslim world as dhimmitude--states absurdly:
"The life of every human being is sacred, both for Christians and for Muslims. There is plenty of scope for us to act together in the service of fundamental moral values."
No, Cardinal Bertone, the lives of Jews and Christians and Buddhists are NOT sacred to Muslims. Because you state something with extraordinarily gullible wishful thinking does not make it true.
Here is Cardinal Bertone making an outright heretical remark:
"Without ignoring or downplaying our differences as Christians and Muslims, we can and therefore should look to what unites us, namely, belief in the one God, the provident Creator and universal Judge who at the end of time will deal with each person according to his or her actions. We are all called to commit ourselves totally to him and to obey his sacred will."
We worship the same God as Muslims do? We worship the Trinity, and we believe that Christ is fully God and fully man. If Bertone is suggesting that Muslims, who do not believe Christ was God and do not believe in the Holy Spirit, are worshiping the same god as we are, he is a heretic. There is no getting around it.
What Bertone is doing is literally negotiating with a religion that was founded by a Fallen Angel. Revelation ended with the Apostles. The Muslim religion began after the fullness of Revelation with Christ was revealed. There was no need for further Revelation.
Gabe -- you may as well accuse Pope Benedict XVI of speaking heresy, because he said the exact same thing on more than one occasion:
"Christians and Muslims belong to the family of those who believe in the one God and who, according to their respective traditions, trace their ancestry to Abraham" (address to Religious Affairs Director, Ali Bardakoglu, Turkey, November 2006) - referencing Vatican II's Nostrae Aetate:
The Church regards with esteem also the Moslems. They adore the one God, living and subsisting in Himself; merciful and all- powerful, the Creator of heaven and earth,(5) who has spoken to men; they take pains to submit wholeheartedly to even His inscrutable decrees, just as Abraham, with whom the faith of Islam takes pleasure in linking itself, submitted to God. [Vatican II]
And if you're accusing Bertone of Dhimmitude for "negotiating with a religion", you might as well indict our Holy Father as well, given his call to the Muslim community:
We are called to work together, so as to help society to open itself to the transcendent, giving Almighty God his rightful place. The best way forward is via authentic dialogue between Christians and Muslims, based on truth and inspired by a sincere wish to know one another better, respecting differences and recognizing what we have in common.
There are undoubtedly Muslims for whom human life is sacred (and who hold this as a universal principle); there are of course Muslims who don't and who furthermore pervert their faith by their abuse. I could point you in the direction of Christians who openly flaunt the teachings of the Church as well.
There's a way to understand the Church's recognition that Christians and Muslims worship "the one God" without indicating the Vatican of heresy, but it may involve some exercise of the mind and distinguishing between the objective reality and subjective perception of God. Here for instance is Dave Armstrong:
Moreover, one must distinguish between the two notions:
1) A Muslim worshiping the One he believes to be the true God.
and
2) The recipient of God-directed worship, even if erroneous in some respects, being the God Who Really Is, since Allah does not exist.
As an analogy (the best I can think of at the moment), imagine a child who was adopted but didn't yet know it. He or she might say, "I am really thankful that my mother gave me birth." Now, this person thinks that his or her birth mother is the woman who in reality is only the adoptive mother. But nevertheless, the attitude of thankfulness for having been given birth in a sense "transfers" over to the real birth mother.
In other words, it has to be the birth mother who is truly receiving praise because the person giving it intends it for that person who gave him birth: and that person is who she is whether the child knows this or not. The fact that there is a mistake concerning the actual person regarded as the birth mother does not change the fact of it.
Likewise, a committed Muslim is worshiping what he sincerely believes to be God. He is mistaken, of course, as to the actual definition and ontological reality, but he is worshiping in common with Christians, insofar as he is also a monotheist. He is worshiping, for example, the Creator insofar as he understands Who the Creator is. And Yahweh is receiving that praise in reality because He is the true Creator. In that sense the Muslim is indeed worshiping God, but since Allah doesn't exist, he is really (at bottom) worshiping Yahweh, in relative ignorance. And I believe that God (i.e., Yahweh!) takes this into account and the person gets some credit for what he does know and Who he wants to worship, even though he is mistaken in his theology.
I am thoroughly confused. If we all worship the same God, then why am I bothering being Catholic? Maybe this month I'll be Catholic, and next month I'll take a break and try out something else. There is ONLY ONE TRUTH.
If we all worship the same God, then why am I bothering being Catholic?
Perhaps you ought to try reading the Catechism. I daresay you'd find the answer.
Well done, Christopher.
To put Christopher's words more simply, Bertone says that we have in common THE belief in one God not God himself. He says, that muslims and us believe in a monotheistic religion(unlike old Greek religion, animism or nordic gods).
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