With over one billion adherents, a network of centrally controlled churches spanning the earth, coffers groaning with riches collected over two thousand years, a tiny nation state at its heart steeped in the arcane and mysterious, and an (according to Catholic theology) all-powerful, all-knowing, infallible Pope at its head, the Roman Catholic Church can be an impressive sight.
Over recent decades, whispers of a disease that lay at its heart have grown into a chorus of shouts in the last few weeks, as brave victims of paedophile Catholic priests have come forward to tell their stories of horror. Matters have reached a head this week with prominent atheists Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens threatening to arrest the Pope if he visits the UK as planned later this year.
The instances of sexual abuse perpetrated by Catholic priests are spread across the world and the number of disclosures is growing day by day. It includes the findings of Judge Murphy's commission in Ireland, which concluded that there was "endemic" sexual abuse in boys' institutions spanning six decades where the church hierarchy protected the perpetrators and, despite knowledge of their risk of reoffending, allowed them to take up new positions teaching other children after their victims had been sworn to secrecy. It also includes the 11,750 cases of sex abuse that have been settled out of court by just two archdioceses, in Los Angeles and Boston, involving over 4,000 Catholic priests, including one who raped and sexually assaulted over 200 deaf boys in a residential school for the deaf: victims who were unable tell anyone of their abuse as their tormentor was the only one who could communicate with them. It includes stories of abuse that range across Europe, the Americas, Australia, New Zealand, and parts of Asia. The stories are horribly similar - the abuse, the cover-up - no justice for victims and the offender free to reoffend.
As the growing controversy surrounding the Catholic Church unfolds it is interesting and pertinent to wonder what would have happened if Muslims had been involved. Owing to the actions of a relatively small number of Muslim terrorists in the UK and abroad, we have had far reaching and intrusive government policies trying to invade every aspect of our lives. From "naked" body scanners at airports; to the ill-conceived "Prevent" strategy which sought to rewrite Islam in a more politically palatable way; to the overt scrutiny of our relationships - ensuring our marriages are not forced and our children not oppressed; to the government-funded Islam-experts industry, which has produced a wishy-washy army of the confused, misguided and self-absorbed to be our new leaders, there has been strategy after strategy orchestrated by government in order to "manage’ the Muslims.
So now that we have conclusive evidence which shows institutional child sex abuse running right through the Catholic Church, from the priest that commits the abuse to the Pontiff that covers it up, are we to see a raft of new government policies introduced that will protect children in this country and abroad? Will we have the "Protect" agenda, or perhaps a regular police shake-down of Catholic monasteries to look for paedophile pornography? Our "boys in blue" could burst in at 4am, accidentally shoot a few monks and then issue statements regretting any distress they have caused. Or perhaps the government will only grant charitable status to those churches whose priests have forsaken their vows of celibacy and are married to women... or, even better perhaps, men.
Even more interesting would be the reaction of the media. Will we see "journalists" authoring blusterous rhetoric questioning why "the average Catholic’ won't condemn all of their priests more fulsomely, more often and in more grovelling terms; and demanding that Catholicism must change? Will we see joint press conferences with prominent Catholics like Tony Blair, Ann Widdecombe and the Duchess of Kent issuing condemnations of their leaders? Will The Daily Express, The Sun and The Daily Mail write polemic editorials demanding that those Italian-loving papists fully integrate, stop using Latin liturgies, dress like true Brits and tear down those church spires that express their solidarity with this foreign, imported religion?
I wouldn't hold my breath. This of course has not happened and will not happen. Prominent Catholic journalist and Telegraph columnist Damian Thompson has declared that he is "bored with this", and blamed any furore on the media. Which is rich, coming from a media man who has used some extremely dodgy reporting techniques in order to denigrate Muslims.
Other media reaction includes a Muslim journalist who absurdly decided to link the Islamic injunction against extramarital sex with paedophilia, and thus lump in devout Muslims along with Catholic priests as "custodians of impossible morality and so turn[ing] into monstrous predators".
When I write "a Muslim journalist", of course the only one who could cobble together such a travesty of an idea and churn it out as social theory is that haggard siren of post-modernism, luring people to their doom with her siren-song of existentialism: Yasmin Alibhai-Brown. A detailed rebuttal of her article is troublesome, as when there is such a completely psychotic dissociation from reality one doesn't know where to begin. Perhaps someone should gently point out that Catholic priests have to live in celibacy for their whole lives whilst Muslim men can marry up to four wives; or perhaps it could be relayed that Islam encourages the physical bond between husband and wife; or could she be informed that it was Islam's easy going nature with these intimate issues in a proper marital setting that caused the ill-informed stereotype of the licentious Moor, which has fed many a lurid daydream of both Orientalists and frustrated housewives for the last five hundred years.
Catholic priests are the conduit through which their parishioners' connection with God is channelled. They listen to the confessions of their flock and mete out absolution; they baptize children thus allowing them (they think) to be among the "saved"; and they administer last rites to the dying and, apparently, if this is not done, the dead person languishes in purgatory. The imam, on the other hand, is the most pious person with the best recitation of the Quran and so is chosen by the congregation to lead the prayer. There is no centralised control, or official mandates or proxy-Prophethood. Alibhai-Brown is obviously mistaking her religion of Ismailism (the personality cult of the Aga Khan) with Islam. Being a devout Ismaili (or Aga Khani), Yasmin would believe that the Aga Khan is the "walking-talking Quran" - the "Mazhar of Allah" (mazhar meaning copy or manifestation). Ismailis have replaced the Hajj with their own personal "deedar" or glimpse of the Aga Khan. Aga Khan imams forgive the sins of Ismailis and they thus believe that they will have nothing to be accountable for on the Day of Judgement. The contrast with Islam could not be more apparent with anyone who has even the most tenuous grip on reality.
It is sobering to note that the same Yasmin Alibhai-Brown is the Chair of BMSD (British Muslims for Secular Democracy), which recently released guidelines to schools on how to "handle" Muslim parents' concerns on issues such as sex education and the hijab, as discussed previously on UmmahPulse. These guidelines are being trialled in three school districts throughout the country without the informed consent of Muslim parents. If this is the level of Alibhai-Brown's grip on Islamic theology, one can only wonder why she felt so confident lending her name to the BMSD document.
At the heart of this controversy lies one person – the Pope. How much did he know? When did he find out? What will he do? In Catholic theology, he is the infallible representative of the divine on earth. In light of the revelations of the past few months, this belief could not have been placed under greater strain. Yet strangely the idea of a Pope has always appealed to some Muslims, who feel that it would be a neat way both to centralise authority and solve the "take me to your leader" problem that the west always seems to have with Islam. Indeed, this was part of the idea behind the Amman Message – a way to centralise authority over Islam to one area. On the Amman Message website under the subheading ‘What is the next step?’ there is the reassurance that this message is not merely "an historic agreement" but there are firm plans to roll out the Amman Message to construct:
- inter-Islamic treaties;
- national and international legislation using the Three Points of the Amman Message to define Islam and forbid takfir;
- the use of publishing and the multi-media in all their aspects to spread the Amman Message;
- instituting the teaching of the Amman Message in school curricula and university courses worldwide; and
- making it part of the training of mosque Imams and making it included in their sermons.
"Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached."
As street protests against this started throughout the Muslim world he described this as, "Their [The Muslims'] attempt to cover up the many controversial commands in the Quran." Yet despite this appalling start to his papacy, less than a year later, the open hand of reconciliation was offered from the Muslim world in the form of this "Common Word’ letter. The Vatican issued a rather frosty response which included this telling sentence: "Muslims do not accept that one can discuss the Koran in depth, because they say it was written by dictation from God... With such an absolute interpretation, it is difficult to discuss the contents of faith."
Indeed, it would be a difficult concept to understand for someone who has chosen to believe that Cardinal Ratzinger could become the infallible representative of God on earth just as the white smoke of his appointment floated up the chimney at the Vatican.
Just as at the centre of our holiest site sits the Kaaba, solid and fixed whilst millions upon millions of pilgrims continually move around it, at the centre of our faith lies the Quran. This is the timeless word of Allah, unmoved and unchanged throughout the centuries as cultures and kingdoms ebb and flow around it. To alter it would be impossible as it is not only preserved on paper but, more importantly, in the hearts and minds of millions of Muslims worldwide.
Our religion is not based on Popes, Aga Khans or priests who may have evil hiding in their hearts, but rather it is guided by a true lineage of scholarship with an unbroken chain back to the Prophet Muhammad (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him). Scholars gain their place in society and this lineage not through an "old-boy-network" and stately funding but rather through extensive training, certification of their understanding by fellow scholars, and an earned reputation of trustworthiness via years of selfless service to the community. It is a perfect system for the preservation of Allah's Guidance. It is a system in which deception can never become endemic.
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