VATICAN CITY (RNS) A high-profile Italian Muslim who converted to Catholicism and was baptized by Pope Benedict XVI announced on Monday (March 25) that he will leave the church to protest its soft stance against Islam.
Egyptian-born Magdi Cristiano Allam, 61, a prominent journalist and outspoken critic of Islam, publicly entered the Catholic Church on March 22, 2008 during an Easter Vigil service, receiving baptism directly from Benedict.
After his conversion, Allam founded a small right-wing political party that lost badly in Italy’s general elections last April.
Writing on Monday in the right-wing daily Il Giornale, Allam explained that he considers his conversion to Catholicism finished “in combination with the end of (Benedict’s) pontificate.”
“The ‘papolatry’ that has inflamed the euphoria for Francis I and has quickly archived Benedict XVI was the last straw in an overall framework of uncertainty and doubts about the Church,” he wrote.
On Friday, Francis pledged to “intensify dialogue among the various religions,” particularly Islam.
Allam, who has called Islam an “intrinsically violent ideology,” said his main reason for leaving the church was its perceived “religious relativism, in particular the legitimization of Islam as a true religion.”
“Europe will end up being subjugated to Islam,” he warned in Il Giornale, unless it “finds the courage to denounce Islam as incompatible with our civilization and fundamental human rights,” and to “banish the Quran for inciting hatred, violence and death towards non-Muslims.” Europeans also need to “condemn Sharia as a crime against humanity” and to “stop the spread of mosques.”
Allam said he would remain a Christian but that he didn’t “believe in the church anymore.”
Allam’s surprise conversion was orchestrated by Archbishop Rino Fisichella, currently head of the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization, who “personally accompanied” the Muslim intellectual’s approach to the Catholic faith.
At the time, the Vatican’s chief spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, stressed that the conversion was the result of Allam’s “personal journey” and was not intended as a direct message to Muslims.
A leading Muslim intellectual involved in interfaith dialogue with the Vatican, Aref Ali Nayed, criticized the public conversion ceremony as a “triumphalist way to score points,” and said it raised “serious doubts” about the Catholic Church’s policy toward Islam.
19 Comments
R. Calderon
Hmmm, not sure why this is a news story. However Church would just consider him a Catholic for life. He can renounce this faith all he wants, but he is still a Catholic. With that said, he is welcome to join other religious groups who like to burn the Koran and fight violence with bigger guns. Perhaps then his sheer hate for Islam would be quenched.
Guest
I don’t see how your assessment of “sheer hate” is in any way justified. I can disagree vehemently with a person or an organization or a philosophy without hating them. Why do you assume that he hates? Perhaps that is what you would feel in the the same situation? But we must not project our own shortcomings upon others. I mean no condemnation.
hgjdfgfhd
he is right
http://www.youtube.com/user/0070sa/videos?sort=da
Muslim convert quits Catholic Church, says it’s too weak against Islam – Religion News Service | Church News from Christian Web Watch
[...] From Church News Source- news.google.com [...]
eeenok
there’s a surprise – hateful nutjob fails to find an accommodating home in any group that won’t fit into a hotel room
Leo
He is totally correct. Islam has been trying to conquer Europe since about 710 when Charles Martel defeated it at Tours (Poitiers). With a low birth rate and religious indifference, it is already in charge in parts of Europe. I suggest that you read “While Europe Slept: How Radical Islam is Destroying the West from Within,”
Bruce Bauer, hardly a conservative person.
Also, check out the books by Rodney Stark. This pope is, unfortunately, going to wreak havoc, instead of taking care of abusive priests, which is what Catholics really want.
Safi Kaskas
If Christians decide to live by the principles of Jesus, they should find ways to love, serve and honor their Muslim brothers. Find ways to show your love to Muslims in order for them to love you back. Do we need a think tank to study how to show love toward others? Isn’t feeding the hungry and healing the sick a sure way to accomplish this? Follow Jesus and you will find the way.
Reconciliation at the end is a journey that God puts you on and leads you through. It is neither for the fanatic nor for the faint of heart. It is for those that have the deepest faith in Him and the deepest love toward other human beings—those who are too humble to judge others and ready to extend a loving hand toward them.
In today’s world, I hold the view that it is of highest importance that people of goodwill and deep faith engage in reconciliation efforts in order to spare both Muslims and Christians the agony of conflict and alienation. For it is not enough to love God with all our heart, mind and soul, if we don’t love our neighbor like ourselves.
http://kaskas.com/uploads/Reconciliation_The_Choice_SH_20-01-10_1_.pdf
Guiseppe
Why should we care about Mooozlems when they are killing, intimidating, kidnappign for ransom our brothers in Christ? It’s high time that we Christians start Prtayign for God to destroy anythign Islamic!
I know I know I sound liek the Anti-Christ but I’m just PLAIN sick and tired of The Muslism throwign tantrums day-in-day-out. And their tantrums aren’t liek that of a toddler. IT kills and destroys lives.
So stop the rubbish love thay Muslim neighbors crap. We’re done with loving. Even G-d has his limits. If you don’t obey His commands his destroysnd my friends, Christians are no G-d!
Sister Geraldine M. Wagner
Caritas (love) of neighbor has nothing to do with the renunciation of Islam as a false religion; in fact, true love is showing a person the RIGHT way. Brothers and sisters, study the history of Islam and look at what it teaches, particularly about “infidels.” While Christians have committed many sins in the name of Christianity, the religion itself has NEVER TAUGHT hatred or revenge!
Agni Ashwin
Where can I find “the religion itself”? Who teaches it?
Sister Geraldine M. Wagner
You can find the religion itself in both Old and New Testaments. Both teach love of YHWH above all things and the love of neighbor as “oneself.” There is no mention of forced conversion or murdering non-believers. The commandment is thou shalt not murder, and not, thou shalt not kill. Who teaches it? Jewish rabbis and Christian believers. BELIEVERS, not people masquerading as sheep but are in fact, wolves who would bring down the innocent and ignorant.
Hannah S.
It is a Biblical principle that the Lord uses Assyria/Babylon/Egypt/Islam to discipline His people when they fall into sin and rebellion. See Isaiah 10:5
Whenever the people of GOD repent, God restores them from captivity. It is the sword of the Lord: the Word of God that defeats the evil within the people and those spiritual, material, political and human entities that have taken them captive: Isaiah 31:8-9, II Chronicles 7:14
No one can dispute the condition of the Church (Catholic, Anglican, Protestant, Evangelical) in our time, especially in the West. There are people in ministry and laity who have done great harm to Christendom by personal sin and apostasy (sexual sin), evil actions (especially sexual abuse perpetrated against children, abortion) and by their words: deceptive and heretical teaching (compromising with political correctness).
Until the Church repents and returns to GOD, it will remain in captivity and under assault.
Muslim convert quits Catholic Church, says it’s too weak against Islam | Steele's Wheelhouse
[...] Whole Story: Religion News Service [...]
Sacerdotus
Could his “conversion” possibly have been a “photo-op” and not a conversion that comes as a result of an extensive RCIA process? I would like to know if he was on the fast track or not.
Hannah S.
Perhaps the more Magdi Allam learned and saw of the Catholic Church, he became discouraged and dismayed. Besides the sexual abuse and cover up, there are conflicts between the Bible and actual practices by religious, clergy and laity.
Believe it or not, rational people in the Catholic Church as well as converts from Islam have a problem with the Catechism’s #841 gushing validation of Islam. Islam opposes Christianity and Judaism. It was conceived and invented by Mohammed to aggressively supplant and subsume Judaism and Christianity at the point of the sword. Islam in its inception and core texts and in its current practices is a racist hate group that allows slavery, pedophilia, brutal misogyny and other violations of human rights.
Sister Geraldine M. Wagner
Thank you Hannah S.! Absolutely correct!
Guiseppe
Thank you. MY fear is that the one world government will be estabilished by the merging of Islam and catholicism under the banner of Muhammad. There is soem conspiracy goign on that’s why Benedic the XVI simply kept quiet after ruffling so9em feathers in 2006 with hsi “Reason” comment regardign Islam.
I used to oppose Protestant friends of mine ( co-religionists of mine, ofcourse) when they float theories liek the Anti-Christ will coem out of the Catholic Church and I’m still oen of the ardent supporters of Christians no matter what their denomination is. However, lately after thesilence of the Catholic church despite a concerted effort by Muslism everywhere ( not just “extremists”) to wipe out minority Christians among them ( Pakistan, Northern Nigeria, Egypt, Indonesia, even Palestine, etc…) I am leanign towards acceptign the theory that come end times, I may find myself on the opposite end of the Church of Peter. Sad but I’ll die opposing Islam till my last breath because I’ve seen it’s fruit anaint from God!
Sister Geraldine M. Wagner
Many people in modern times (I.e., WWII, and beyond, see the churchs’ silence as approbation when it isn’t. For example, Hitler threatened the churches if they spoke out against him and his Nazi organization of thugs and he would target the most vulnerable. So do other oppressors. This doesn’t mean the churches don’t protest; however, but they must do so carefully, not necessarily for the sake of their own lives, but especially for others’s lives.
It’s easy for those of us who live in countries where we can speak our minds, either verbally or in print and not be afraid of reprisals, including torture and/or death. That’s a right too few have in other countries, so don’t take it for granted! Look how certain Islamists riot when they think Mohammed has been insulted! Is he a god? He’s just supposed to be a prophet! Neither in Judaism nor in Christianity does one see these extremes of behavior for their holiest figures.
Celinedesilva
Hannah S. You are so right.
All the foot washing is not going to make a difference. It is only leading Catholics astray. I have many friends who turned muslim because the pope said we worship the same god.
Just a reminder:
By Erick Stakelbeck
CBN News Terrorism Analyst
Monday, April 05, 2010
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WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has released a review of its strategy in the war on terrorism. The report failed to even mention the word “Islam.”
CBN News traveled to London to talk with Anjem Choudary, a leading Muslim radical who says Islamic teachings are what shaped his pro-jihad message.
Although both George W. Bush and Barack Obama have declared that Islam is a religion of peace, Choudary begs to differ.
A Religion of Peace?
“You can’t say that Islam is a religion of peace,” Choudary told CBN News. “Because Islam does not mean peace. Islam means submission. So the Muslim is one who submits. There is a place for violence in Islam. There is a place for jihad in Islam.”
Choudary is the leader of Islam4UK, a group recently banned in Britain under the country’s counter-terrorism laws. He wants Islamic Sharia law to rule the United Kingdom and is working to make that dream a reality.
While Islamic radicals in the United States usually prefer to speak in more moderate tones while in public, masking their true agenda, Choudary has no such inhibitions.
He has praised the 9/11 hijackers and has called for the execution of Pope Benedict. He also stirred controversy recently when video emerged of him converting a 10-year-old British boy to Islam.
Openly Praising Jihad
Choudary told CBN News his group is a “non-violent political and ideological movement” that resides in the UK under “a covenant of security.”
Yet he openly praises violent jihad.
“The Koran is full of, you know, jihad is the most talked about duty in the Koran other than tawhid — belief,” he said. “Nothing else is mentioned more than the topic of fighting.”
Several former members of Choudary’s group have been arrested on terrorism charges.
“A very significant amount of former al-Muhajiroun people were involved in terrorist plots against this country,” London-based terrorism expert Peter Neumann said. “A number of people have actually gone to Afghanistan, joined the Taliban and died fighting for the Taliban.”
Choudary refuses to condemn acts of terror including 9/11 and the July 7, 2005 London bombings, which killed 52 people.
Islam More than Religion
CBN News asked Choudary for his thoughts on the 7/7 bombings on London’s transport system, and whether he condemned them.
“For the people who carried it out, it was legitimate,” he replied. “If you look at the will of the 7/7 bombers Mohammed Siddique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer, they would be justified. And there are many verses from the Koran and many statements to say that’s the Islamic argument. And that is a difficult Islamic argument to refute. And there are many scholars who support that argument as well.”
Choudary says his group is merely following core Islamic teachings and that Islam is much more than a religion.
“This particular belief is more than just a religion,” he declared. “It is not just a spiritual belief. It is, in fact, an ideology which you believe in and you struggle for and you are willing even to die for, because you believe in that: That is your whole life.”
Choudary seems to relish being called Great Britain’s “most hated man” and pledges to continue his rallies calling for the overthrow of the British system.