Vatican embroiled in Islam lessons row

BY WILL GORE AND CHRISTINA FARRELL
VATICAN support for the teaching of Islam in Italy's schools has sparked fierce criticism from Italian politicians who insist it flies in the face of any realistic attempt at cultural integration.
Last week Cardinal Renato Martino, head of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, was widely reported in the Italian press after he backed a proposal to teach Islam in schools where Muslims were in the majority.
"If there is the necessity, if in a school there are 100 Muslims, I don't see why we couldn't teach them their religion," the cardinal said. "This is simply respect for human beings."
Italian state schools currently have a statutory hour for religious education every week which, until now, has been based exclusively on Catholic teaching. Under the new proposal a weekly lesson on Islam could also become part of the school curriculum. The cardinal, who was speaking at a meeting entitled "The Ways of Peace" at the French cultural centre in Rome, said that Europe and Italy had reached "a level of democracy and respect for others" and only dialogue and religious freedom could avoid the fundamentalism that threatened society.
He added that all religions "are for peace" and seek coexistence and collaboration wherever possible.
But the proposal was attacked as a dangerous and ultimately divisive measure.
Writer Vittorio Messori, author of The Ratzinger Report and Opus Del, said it was just a "dangerous and confused mix of political correctness".
Italian Senate president Marcello Para described the cardinal's comments as not very encouraging.
In a statement on his website he said: "The stance...is the polar opposite of any attempt at integration and, in fact, tends to strengthen the idea of an autonomous Islamic community within the Italian state."
Secularists also seized the opportunity to attack the teaching of Catholicism in Italian schools. In an interview with La Repubblica
Emma Bonin°, a former EU commissioner, said: "I think that public schools should not be allowed to teach any religion. The question is not whether to teach the Islamic religion, but that we shouldn't teach the Catholic one either."
Speaking to The Catholic Herald this week Cardinal Martino attempted to diffuse the row. He insisted that he had not suggested that Islam should be taught to Catholics in Catholic schools.
"I was saying that such teaching should be given wherever there is a need of those persons who are of different religion," he said. "They have made a big story out of this."
The cardinal refused to back calls for Islam to offer some reciprocity — in terms of human rights and democracy — in return for the new freedoms.
He said that Muslims had a right to religious freedom "and be taught their faith if it's given to Christians".
"Religious freedom is not only about going to the mosque and freedom to worship; it also means being able to express oneself, to have the right to organise and a right to religious teachings," he said.
The proposal had been put forward by the Union of Islamic Communities in Italy, a Muslim group set up last December to improve dialogue between the government and Italy's growing Muslim population. Mohamed Nour Dachan, president of the Union, applauded Cardinal Martino's comments, praising the path of "dialogue and reciprocal respect" that he said had been launched by Pope John Paul II and continued by Benedict XVI.
There are an estimated 15 million Muslims in Italy out of a population of approximately 58 million, although there is no reliable estimate of the number of Muslim children in state schools. Unlike Buddhism and Judaism, Islam is not offically recognised by the Italian state.