A clerical gentleman, and an erudite one at that, for whom I have great respect, not least because his sermons are a) meaningful and b) pithy, wrote a thoughtful piece on the interface between Islam and Christianity.
Another reason why I hold dear my friendship with Mgr. Farrugia is his fervent support for the parish of Saint George in Victoria, where the dynamic between us plebs down on the plain and the more exalted supporters of the parish based up in the Castle gives much opportunity for some good clean fun.
To a degree the interface discussed was that between Islam - and its Muslim promoters - and civilisation, given that the West as we know it is (supposed to be) underpinned by Christian values.
The extent to which this accident of history has continued to evolve through the centuries is debatable, because while many values that we hold dear do trace back to Christian doctrine at their origin, a substantial bunch of them flourished despite the manner in which the Vatican had chosen and to a degree still chooses to interpret Christian teachings.
For instance, the value of tolerance, especially of sexual inclinations, finds as little acceptance in hard-core Christian strongholds as it does in what we refer to as Islam, more properly Fundamentalist Islam.
Sadly, for the peace of mind of most of us, the line where fundamentalism starts in Islam, as Mgr. Farrugia describes, is drawn much closer to the Muslim mainstream’s general mores when compared to Christian fundamentalism, which tends to hold sway on a proportionately much smaller population.
Another area where perhaps one might tend towards noting that there is room for improvement in both faiths is the manner in which women are regarded.
In no way are women in Christianity treated the way they are in some, unhappily very widespread, interpretations of the Holy Quran, interpretations which when taken to their thuggish extremes have led to horrific abuse of women, indeed young girls.
But the recent paroxysms within the Church of England, first to accept women clerics at all and now to accept them as Bishops, are evidence of a perception of women that is not fully on a par with men.
And don’t give me any arguments about the apostles being all men, either, because I’ll just offer to stone your daughter for wearing leather sandals or whatever other weird and wonderful reading of some old book I can dream up.
The central theme of Mgr Farrugia’s piece was that violence, thuggishness and deadly fundamentalism are not the measure we should take of Islam. That this should be taken to heart by the assorted racists and xenophobes that infest this, and many other, so-called civilised countries is a no-brainer.
The thing is, however, that Islam as interpreted by such of its adherents who choose to ram their Faith down our throats by any and all means, especially extreme violence, makes it relatively easy for these thugs to take charge and overcome the efforts of those who prefer interaction and mutual respect.
It is, indeed, time for the moderates to stand up and be counted.
On both sides of the interface.