Back in September, the Pope’s use of a medieval quotation in a speech in Germany concerning violence and Islam, taken out of context, led to ‘outrage’ in the Muslim community. Since then, among other things, the Pope has been warned not to visit Turkey on pain of death. The threat seems to many to prove the point about violence and Islam.
More recently, in October, former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw’s suggestion that community relations in Britain might be helped if Muslim women did not wear full veils was reported as having ‘provoked anger’ among many Muslim spokesmen.
Although I realise that many followers of Islam are peace-loving people who just wish to live in harmony with others and get on with their lives, putting such reactions alongside 9/11 and the insurgency in Iraq (seen as a jihad to drive out Western forces who would be only too happy to leave anyway if there was the rule of law and security) Islam cannot help being perceived as a rather angry and violent religion.
The re-emergence of heavy shepherds
What would you think if you received a letter from your church leaders that read like this? ‘Are church members …