The Church & Arianism, The Church & Islam.

THE CHURCH AND ARIANISM, THE CHURCH AND ISLAM NO REAL PROSPECT FOR REFORM Abdul Rahman is 41 and may not make it to 42. The Afghani converted to Christianity, and that is a crime in a country that operates under Sharia. Rahman is under arrest in Kabul, and the prosecutor wants him executed for abandoning Islam. Rahman has been told his life will be spared if he converts back to Islam, but so far he has declined the offer. He has a real chance of becoming a martyr for the faith. As we wait to see what happens to him, it would be a courtesy to have silence from those who keep telling us that Islam is a religion of peace. ARIANS AND MUSLIMS Vatican II's "Lumen Gentium" had this to say about Muslims: "The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place among whom are the Muslims; these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind's judge on the last day" (LG 16). Those 44 words don't really say much other than that Muslims say they worship the same God that we do, but some people have read into that one sentence that Islam is just like Christianity, only a bit different. Well ...In the early years, the Church battled heresies such as Arianism and Pelagianism and Monophysitism. Sometimes there were literal battles, with Catholics and heretics taking up arms against one another, and sometimes the heresies came close to winning the field. There was a time, for instance, when most of the world's bishops were Arians, not Catholics.The Church of those years understood that, had any of the heresies prevailed, Christianity would have gone into eclipse because it would have been reduced to something radically different from what its Founder had established. The ancient heresies were almost orthodox. Arians, for example, believed what Catholics believed, except they said that Christ had only a human nature, not both a divine nature and a human nature. To many it seemed like such a small difference, but in fact it made all the difference in the world. Ditto with the other heresies of those centuries. So here we had the Church understanding that these "almost Catholicisms" were incompatible with the true faith. There could be no rapprochement between the heresies and Catholicism. The Christian world had to become one thing or the other, just as our own country, a century and a half ago, could not forever remain "half slave and half free." It had to tip one way or the other. There was no long-term "peaceful co-existence," to use Khruschchev's term.And yet look at those ancient heretics. They professed "to hold the faith of Abraham," and, together with Catholics, they adored "the one, merciful God, mankind's judge on the last day." Each of those heretics was far closer to the Catholic faith than are Muslims, and yet Catholics in those years were clear-eyed enough to see an insurmountable incompatibility between the faith of the Church and the faith of the heretics. So near, yet so far. Fine. Vatican II affirmed that Muslims, however incorrect their understandings of God, worship the same God that we do. (The same can be said of Jews, of course.) But many Catholics draw a false conclusion: that there is no fundamental incompatibility between Christianity and Islam. That doesn't follow from what Vatican II said. Just ask Abdul Rahman."WHEN EVEN A POPE HAS TO WHISPER" That was the title of a column in the January 10 issue of the "Asia Times" online service. The columnist, writing under the pseudonym "Spengler," said that "Islam is the unexploded bomb of global politics." He quoted Iran's Mahmud Ahmadinejad as saying that "We must believe in the fact that Islam is not confined to geographical borders, ethnic groups, and nations. It's a universal ideology that leads the world to justice. We don't shy away from declaring that Islam is ready to rule the world." This was a revealing--and honest--statement of fact. Islam is not just a religion. Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism: While they have this-worldly elements, each is a religion, period. But Islam is not just a religion. It also is a political ideology, as Ahmadinejad affirmed. The two parts cannot be separated without Islam ceasing to be itself, and that is why Islam never will become a "live and let live" religion. "Spengler" wrote, "Strange as it may seem, the Pope must whisper when he wants to state agreement with conventional Muslim opinion"--that is, when he notes that Islam is not likely to be reformed. Why must he whisper? Because this is not an opinion shared by opinion-molders in the West, many of whom talk about Muslim societies embracing democracy and, somehow, ending up with a non-ideological Islam. Give them the vote, they say, and average Muslims will be satisfied with a "Friday-go-to-meetin'" religion. Don't count on it, said "Spengler."