I read with great interest the feedback generated by my Talking Point last week, ‘The Muslims are coming’. It showed that freedom of speech is alive and well in Malta. Sadly, so is the suspicion and fear of difference, the belief that the gulf between Christians and Muslims is unbridgeable, that all Muslims are out to get us.

Of course there is Muslim fundamentalist violence. Of course the horrible James Foley murder is barbaric. Of course the threat of forced sharia Islamisation is present and some groups actively work for this.

But have we already forgotten the Arab Spring? Was this not a popular yearning for democracy, for decency and equality?

Have we forgotten the constant attempts in Iran to reduce the stranglehold of the mullahs and their revolutionary guards?

Have we forgotten the Muslim societies in the Maghreb and in the Far East that have evolved more inclusive ways of co-existence than the fundamentalist version the media bombards us with from the Middle East?

Have we forgotten the great variances in Christianity itself? Nearly half of Americans believe God created mankind in a single day about 10,000 years ago, a literal interpretation of the Bible. Many Evangelical groups support Israel’s ascendancy, with all its implications, because they believe it will bring about the Second Coming of Christ.

The religious tolerance we enjoy today in Europe was learnt the hard way after an orgy of centuries of politico-religious violence that divided nations and massacred millions.

When we paint all of the Muslim world in one fearful hue, we do a disservice to those people and to us.

The Muslim world is passing through its own fiery accounting, as Christianity did. It is in our interest as much as theirs that the dominant version that finally emerges is more inclusive than fundamentalist. It is in our interest that Muslims learn how to interpret the Quran in the light of contemporary and local realities as we Christians have learnt to value the timeless message of the Bible and let go of its anachronistic aspects, in the light of faith. And, as the victims of the Inquisition know, as Galileo would attest, this can be a long and painful process.

I am not claiming a superficial equivalence between Christianity and Islam but this piece is not about theology. It is about the best way forward for Malta in the light of history. We are not living in Syria or Iraq, or even in France, England or Belgium.

When we paint all of the Muslim world in one fearful hue, we do a disservice to those people and to us

What is in Malta’s best interests?

My concern is that we in Malta are not working hard enough to learn the lessons from other European countries on how to go about successful co-existence with the Muslim community in Malta. Do we go for a laissez-faire, live-and-let-live approach? In the countries that took this approach many say it has led to parallel societies with all the problems this brings about.

Do we instead go for some measure of integration? If so, how can we keep the delicate balance between respecting difference and valuing the hard-won cultural and social advances that have characterised 20th century Europe? How to validate the more enlightened components of the raging politico-theological maelstrom that convulses Islam, without endangering them and risk further radicalisation?

Shall we keep on following the classic Maltese model of behaving as if ‘they’ are not here while peering from behind the shutters and muttering viciously against them? Will this lead to anything but repeating the same mistakes that other European countries have done?

I feel we do not appreciate enough that the overt leaders of the Muslim community in Malta are not fundamentalist. We are not capitalising on this sufficiently to build bridges, to help the two communities in Malta approach and understand each other, to find our own answer to how we can live together in the pressure cooker that is Malta.

We have not even started the national dialogue of coexistence, let alone communion, which must necessarily go through rocky fits and starts, hurts and incomprehensions, before it produces results. We need to do this not to obey some abstruse ideological imperative but as a matter of survival for our nation.

We, civil society in Malta, should approach this dialogue not in suspicion and fear but in a spirit of true search. We need to approach it without self-illusions but with a keen eye for possible common ground and alliances for the common good.

I believe the Catholic Church has a critical role here, to help set the tone of this dialogue, to help frame its parameters. I do not think it is impossible. But I do think that ill-considered Sunday homilies can make it less possible.

It is already late to get this dialogue going. But it is not too late.

Who will take the first difficult step?

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