By Dr Marco Ceccarelli
In the context of a rising trend in global terrorist attacks over the past 15 years, the year 2016 has been no exception.
According to the Institute for Economics and Peace’s most recent Global Terrorism Index, although the majority of terrorist attacks do not take place in Western countries, (more than 78 per cent of terrorism related deaths occur in Iraq, Nigeria, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Syria) terrorism is rising dramatically and private citizens are increasingly the targets.
The Record Magazine journalist, Dr Marco Ceccarelli takes a look at terrorism and the Church’s refusal to give in to hatred.
While the frequency and ferocity of terrorism seen this year in the Bastille Day attacks in Nice, and other attacks in Orlando (USA); Istanbul (Turkey), Baghdad (Iraq) and Dhaka (Bangladesh) left many in a state of disbelief, the Catholic Church was placed directly in the firing line on 26 July with the murder of French Catholic Priest Father Jacques Hamel.
Fr Hamel was murdered while saying Mass in the French Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray parish by two young men pledging allegiance to Islamic State (IS).
As Catholics mourned the death of Fr Hamel, Pope Francis and the French Bishops emphasised that shock and grief over the attack should not fuel hatred against Muslims or immigrants.
Paris Cardinal Andre Vingt-Trois’ immediate reaction to the attack was to urge Catholics to “overcome hatred that comes in their heart” and not to “enter the game” of the Islamic State that “wants to set children of the same family in opposition to each other.”
Pope Francis made similar distinctions in a statement issued on the day of the murder and while speaking to journalists to and from World Youth Day in Poland.
“Absurd violence,” Pope Francis wrote in his statement. Violence which needed to be condemned along with “all forms of hatred,” he added.
On the flight to Poland, the Pope reiterated a point he has already made during his pontificate: that the world is in the grip of a “piecemeal war.” Fr Hamel, he said, was one its latest victims.
On his return flight, the Pope also made it clear that the war he spoke of was not of a religious nature: “Some might think I am speaking of religious war,” the Pope said. “No. All religions want peace; it is other people who want war.” He also refused to identify Islam with violence.
As noted in a recent article by Giancarlo Pani SJ in the Jesuit periodical La Civiltà Cattolica, what the Pope and other Church leaders were essentially doing was denying IS the theological-political legitimacy it seeks.
By not calling it a “religious war” but instead promoting interfaith unity among religions – Christianity and Islam in particular – Pani highlights that theirs was an attempt to stop the hate and division which IS was hoping to generate with the murder of Fr Hamel. In other words, instead of giving in to IS’ ploy to set Christianity and Islam against each other, the Church leaders encouraged the faithful to unite with Muslims against the common enemy of violent extremism.
In the days following the murder of Fr Hamel, two European Islamic organisations: the French Institute des Hautes Etudes Islamiques (IHEI) and the Italian Comunità Religiosa Islamica (COREIS), released press releases in which they expressed disdain at the murder of Fr Hamel and invited their members to join Mass celebrations in Cathedrals and Churches throughout Europe.
Scenes of interfaith solidarity were soon after seen in France, Italy and Britain.
In France, the Catholic cathedrals in Lille, Calais and the Basilica of St Denis outside Paris saw Muslims fill the front rows in remembrance vigils and during Sunday Mass.
In Italy, Churches also welcomed Muslims to Sunday Mass; three Imams attended a service at the St Maria Church in Rome’s Trastevere neighbourhood.
In Great Britain, similar scenes were seen at Westminster Cathedral in London, as Rabbis, Imams and Priests also gathered for an interfaith vigil on Sunday morning.
Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame, Fremantle, and expert in terrorism studies, Matthew Ogilvie, recently commented on these events, echoing the Pope’s statements and adding that attention needs to be directed at “how and why” these people use their faith to justify their violence.
“The reality is that most people, of all faiths, want peace. Most Muslims simply do not support terrorism,” Professor Ogilvie said.
“It is also important to remember that most victims of terrorism are actually Muslim.
“I think that fraternal, but robust and critical dialogue is one part of the solution.
“Given that most faiths, including our own, have seen people misuse it for violence, I think that a fraternal dialogue on how we overcame and condemned that violence will help.”
Professor Ogilvie is currently writing a book on Christian radical extremists and continues his research in terrorism studies, Islamic suicide terrorism in particular.
Dr Marco Ceccarelli completed a PhD on the Catholic Church’s response to Terrorism at the University of Western Australia.
From pages 12 and 13 from Issue 5: ‘Christmas 2016 – Looking forward to the Birth of Christ & Reflecting back on the Year 2016?’ of The Record Magazine