Professor Saeed and Fr Madigan make religious dialogue look easy. You would almost wonder what is the problem. Each of them is a gentle, refined, respectful scholar. If only all Muslims and all Christians were like this, all would be well. We would all have a healthy respect for each other’s religious differences and co-operate for the well-being of each other and the rest of the human community.
To almost every proposition they propose, I can hear assent followed by the murmur, ‘Yes, but …’. But for the activities of Osama Bin Laden, we would not have been hosting a seminar series on Christian-Muslim dialogue under the rubric of justice. But for Australia’s participation in the coalition of the willing, it is unlikely that the seminars would have attracted such crowds across the nation. Despite the common ground between the professor and the priest, there is a problem and we have to ask: what is the point of
inter-religious dialogue?
We have always known that there is a problem for Christian minorities in many societies where the majority is Muslim. Since 11 September 2001, we have had to admit that there is also a problem for Muslim minorities in countries such as Australia where the majority is Christian. These minorities suffer discrimination. They evoke fear in the majority and they have grounds for being fearful of the majority.
hey have suffered demonisation by government and are hard-pressed to enjoy equal protection of the state’s laws and policies. If in doubt about the treatment of the Muslim minority in Australia, consider the remarks of our alternative prime minister, Peter Costello, having learnt that he would not be prime minister after John Howard’s 64th birthday. He spoke on tolerance. Sounding more like an Iranian ayatollah, he then conceded that ‘tolerance’ is a verbal block-buster and shared with the voting public one of the responses he received: ‘Please note that if your personal policy is to pander to and show leniency to illegal Muslim immigrants who are queue jumpers and sworn enemies of all Christians, my family and I most certainly will not vote Liberal.’ Mr Costello needed to establish his credentials to lead the nation, securely and fearfully.
What is the point of our dialogue? No doubt such gatherings provide the opportunity for Christians and Muslims to meet, putting a human face on the other, breaking down the barriers between ‘us’ and ‘them’. The