http://www.farooqia.com/english/alfarooq/0704/11.htm#1
Vatican Tells Catholics not to Marry Muslims The Vatican warned Catholic women to think hard before marrying a Muslim and urged Muslims to show respect for human rights, gender equality and democracy. Calling women "the least protected member of the Muslim family", it spoke of the "bitter experience" western Catholics had with Muslim husbands, especially if they married outside the Islamic world and later moved to his country of origin. The comments in a document about migrants around the world were preceded by remarks about points of agreement between Christians and Muslims but they seemed likely to fuel mistrust between the world's two largest religions. The document said the Church discouraged marriages between believers in traditionally Catholic countries and non-Christian migrants. It hoped Muslims would show "a growing awareness that fundamental liberties, the inviolable rights of the person, the equal dignity of man and woman, the democratic principle of government and the healthy lay character of the state are principles that cannot be surrendered". When a Catholic woman and Muslim man wanted to marry, it said: "Bitter experience teaches us that a particularly careful and in-depth preparation is called for." It said one possible problem was with Muslim in-laws and advised future mothers that they must insist on Church policy that children born of a mixed marriage be baptised and brought up as Catholics. If the marriage is registered in the consulate of a Muslim country, the document said, the Catholic must be careful not to sign a document or swear an oath including the Shahaadah, the Islamic pledge of faith, which would amount to converting. The document highlighted the contrasting approaches the Vatican has taken in recent years towards Islam, which has emerged as a strong rival for souls, especially in Africa. Pope John Paul has shown a liberal attitude in his own sense by praying in a Masjid in Damascus. He has also tried to win the liberals (so-called moderates) in the Muslim world for his strong opposition to the Iraq invasion. But Vatican officials and leading Catholic prelates have expressed increasingly critical views about the spread of Islam and the challenge this poses for Catholicism. The Vatican's top theologian, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, said the West "no longer loves itself" and so was unable to respond to the challenge of Islam, which was growing because it expressed "greater spiritual energy". The migration document also discouraged churches from letting non-Christians use their places of worship. This issue arose, recently, when Muslims in Spain asked to be able to pray in Cordoba cathedral, which was once a Masjid. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Make a clean sweep of pop-up ads. Yahoo! Companion Toolbar. Now with Pop-Up Blocker. Get it for free! http://us.click.yahoo.com/L5YrjA/eSIIAA/yQLSAA/TySplB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
