Learn about Islam (in York)
April 16, 2008 6:00 AM
Until recently, if anybody had asked me to name the largest religious
denomination in the world
I would have said "the Catholic Church." After all, Catholics represent
the largest religion in
the United States and the single largest denomination in Maine.
For very many years this would have been the correct answer, but no more.
The Vatican's just-published "Yearbook of Statistics" for 2008 concludes
that "Islam has
overtaken Roman Catholicism as the biggest single religious denomination
in the world."
According to the Vatican, while the diverse array of Christian churches
represents about
one-third of the world's six billion people, 19.2 percent of the world is
Muslim and only 17.4
percent is Catholic.
No country in the world is 100 percent Catholic anymore (Italy comes
closest) but more than 20
countries have populations that are entirely Muslim. A number of key
American allies are
virtually 100 percent Muslim states; Bahrain, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi
Arabia, and Turkey
come to mind.
Although the size of the U.S. Muslim population is small — probably less
than 1 percent — the
worldwide growth of Islam suggests it is essential for people in the
United States to know
about Islam and its followers.
Reflecting this interest, last week a Muslim-Jewish dialogue at the
University of Southern
Maine attracted an overflow crowd of more than 700. At least a dozen
people from York were in
****tland to hear UCLA professor Judea Pearl, father of murdered journalist
Daniel Pearl, talk
with Wa****ngton-based Muslim scholar and Pakistani diplomat professor
Akbar Ahmed of American
University.
It was at times a difficult conversation in which these two friends,
deeply conscious of their
common Abrahamic ancestry, spoke directly to each other about painful
moments in the history of
their respective religions.
"A deep mutual suspicion exists between Islam and the West," Dr. Ahmed
observed, noting that
many in the West see Muslims as "violent, intolerant and fanatical" while
many Muslims see us
in the West as "selfish, immoral and greedy."
Generalizing about any group that numbers over a billion people is
dangerous business. Think of
how many different ways there are to practice Christianity. The town of
York alone has nine
different Christian churches. Clearly, all Christians are not identical in
their beliefs; nor
are all Jews or all Muslims identical in theirs. All religions have their
zealots, their
literalists, and their heretics. Sects and reform movements abound in all
religions.
http://www.seacoastonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080416/LIFE/804160338/-1/LIFE
** Posted from http://www.teranews.com
**
|
