ROCCA DI PAPA, Italy — What are the causes of violence within Islam and Christianity? That was the central question facing delegates of a recent ecumenical conference of representatives from the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences and the Conference of European Churches.

The meeting, which was the first time that representatives from all the main Christian denominations had gathered as a cohesive group to discuss relations with Muslims, met in mid-March at the Palazzola, the serene English College retreat house just outside Rome.

Discussion topics, which included violence in the Koran, interpretations of jihad, and the Catholic doctrine of just war, were examined in the light of recent events such as the riots in France and the violence caused by the cartoons of the prophet Mohammed first published last year in a Danish newspaper.

But according to event organizer Msgr. Peter Fleetwood, the conference was “not a reaction” to these events, or to an increase in Islamic extremism. The delegates, he told reporters March 17, had been commissioned by their ecclesiastical leaders to provide directives on how the churches could respond to “a very complex situation” and examine more completely the reasons for violence in both Islam and Christianity.

Of particular concern was how extremists of both religions can hijack their faith to further their own political ends.

“Why should people be able to pirate the name of religion and get away with it?” asked Msgr. Fleetwood, who is also the deputy general secretary of the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences.

Some leaders may be sincere about the poverty and exclusion they face and have no other choice but to call on their religion in order to bring about justice, but “whether God really wants killing and bombing as a way out of a bad situation is the question,” Msgr. Fleetwood said.

Authority Problem

One problem for those engaged in interreligious dialogue with Muslims is the lack of an over-arching authority or magisterium in Islam. “This is the most important but also the most difficult point,” said Martin Affolderbach, secretary of Christian-Muslim and interreligious affairs for Germany’s Lutheran church. “How to get the right picture of what Islam is, which the parts are relating to violence and non-violence in the Islamic creed, in the Koran and in the conviction of Muslims.”

Msgr. Fleetwood said their dialogue with Muslims involved “not just listening to any old person and certainly not to rabble rousers.” But, he added, finding suitable partners was not easy.

Affolderbach, who helps identify constructive dialogue partners in Germany, noted that some Muslims have been mistakenly labeled as extremist by Germany’s intelligence services. Many German Muslims have also yet to form into identifiable groups, forcing him to build relations with Muslim professionals such as lawyers and doctors, who tend to represent more moderate Islamic perspectives.

But aren’t the extremists the ones who most need to be engaged in dialogue? Affolderbach said there “isn’t a possible starting point” to open relations with such Muslims, comparing the situation to trying to dialogue with right-wing German extremists.

Msgr. Fleetwood said it was a “mystery” how to engage with extremists. “They have to want to dialogue,” he said.

Conference delegate Canon Andrew Wingate, an interfaith adviser for bishops of Church of England, said the “best people” to tackle militant extremists are moderates in both religions. “They need to be encouraged,” he said, adding that moderate Christians also need “to take a stand against extremist Christians, especially in the United States.”

Canon Wingate, who is also director of the St. Philip’s Ecumenical Center in Leicester, England, reported that in his local area it is common for Christians of different denominations to work together in building up relations with Muslims.

“As moderate Christians meeting with moderate Muslims, dialogue is possible — there is a strong bond as opposed to what one might encounter with extremist Christians and Muslims,” he said.

‘Practical’ Approach

Effective dialogue is not helped by division among Christians, but Affolderbach said the churches based their collaboration more on experiences than on theology.

“We find the theological dimensions of the problem from our experiences rather than finding a common starting point,” he said. “It’s a more practical approach that must be looked at from the perspective of solving these particular problems.”

Msgr. Fleetwood emphasized that both Christianity and Islam have contributed to European culture, and was wary of assertions that Christians must battle an encroaching Islam on the continent. “No one sees Christianity fighting an Islamic minority,” he said. “Everyone sees problems, but not on one side.”

In dialogue, Msgr. Fleetwood said, Christians and Muslims were trying to build a continent in which they could co-exist.

Said Msgr. Fleetwood, “Rather than winning a battle, it’s making the most of life here; what’s the most human Europe we can contribute to?”

Edward Pentin

writes from Rome.