On May 21 we published a piece called "Of Christian geese and Muslim ganders". We put forward the point made by many in the Catholic Church - the Pope included - that Christians living in Muslim countries should enjoy the basic liberties that Muslims enjoy in countries frequently associated with Christianity. Today we add Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, the Archbishop of Westminster, to the list of those making such an appeal.

Muslims living in the Western world should lobby for religious freedom in the Islamic world, the Cardinal recently told an Australian audience.

Speaking at a new centre for inter-religious dialogue at the Australian Catholic University, the British cardinal said that the principle of "sacred hospitality" should be regarded as "vital for the relationship between Christians and Muslims".

Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor observed that Muslims are free to worship in the Western world, and said that the respect they are accorded by Christians should be reciprocated. "Where Christians are being denied their rights or are subject to shari'a law, that is not a matter on which Muslims in Britain or in Australia should remain silent," the cardinal said. "Where religious rights of minorities are disrespected in the name of Islam, the face of Islam is tarnished elsewhere in the world."

A Christian Outlook would be happy if the thriving Maltese Muslim community would publicly lobby in this direction. We remember, some years back, a Maltese person who converted to Islam saying on national TV that if he were an MP he would lobby and vote for the introduction of shari'a law in Malta. Are such statements the position of the minority in the Muslim community in Malta?