Over at the online paper, Uusi Suomi, an interview with Father Teemu Sippo SCJ, Catholic Administrator of the Diocese Catholic Church in Finland, reveals a typical naivety and -wishful thinking- attitude concerning Islam, that is prevalent within the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church and within other religious denominations as well.
For the leaders of mainstream religion, it’s all about dialogue, but as far as the Tundra Tabloids is concerned, “talk is cheap”, and most importantly, “actions speak louder than words”. The use of dialogue as a tactic to try and weaken or to moderate intransigent positions that are based within a supremacist ideology, is pure foolishness.
This Finnish Catholic priest, Father Sippo, believes that Islam and Christianity have much in common, but fails to mention that according to Islam, both Jews and Christians have corrupted their own holy books, and are in fact born as Muslims who need to “revert” back to the one true faith,… which is, Mohamed’s cult called Islam. It’s not much of a starting point for dialogue between the faiths.
Uusi Suomi: The world of Muslims and Christians have for years looked for parallels in the faith, so that peaceful coexistence would be possible. In Finland, these discussions have begun, but they are still in the early stages, says Administrator of the Diocese Catholic Church in Finland, Teemu Sippo. […]
Conversations, particularly between Muslims and Christians were born in the need for mutual understanding and to give Islam the right image. I know that, in Finland, Muslims are very regretful that they branded as terrorists.
[TT: Sure they regret being linked to terrorism, it hinders the Islamization process of the host non-Muslim society. In other words, it’s hard to bullsh*t the Kaffirs that Islam is a religion of peace, when pious Muslims are quoting the man who began their cult, Mo, “to kill the unbelievers wherever you find them”. Islam, when it has the upper hand, is not tolerant.]
President Tarja Halonen took the initiative for contact between the religions in Finland after the September 11 terrorist attacks had occurred. Halonen was to later take a strong position against the Muhammed cartoons in Denmark, that caused such a commotion. Halonen said that it was not right to mock any one’s faith, “said Sippo.
[TT: At the time of the Mohamed cartoon crisis, Finnish diplomacy towards the Islamic world strongly resembled its foreign policy vis-a-vis the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Finland’s traditional subservient attitude towards Moscow, was thus replaced by a Dhimmi behaviour towards the Islamic world.]
– We have a Bible, they have the Koran. The Koran mentions, among other things, the Virgin Maria and that monotheism and the prophets belong to religion. In fact, Islam has received a lot from us and Judaism. The latter is closer to Christianity than is generally thought. The Jews have had quite a large role in the Christian faith at all times and unites us in the Bible’s Old Testament. Sippo also corrects at the same time, the misunderstanding that the Koran requires the circumcision of girls. – I think it is very odious measure and does not fall under the scope of religion, “said Sippo.
[TT: Well according to Sheikh Muhammad Sayyed Tantawi, the grand imam of Al-Azhar, female circumcision is “a laudable practice that [does] honor to women. Hadith of Umm ‘Atiyyah to a female circumcision: “When you circumcise then do not cut severely, since that is better for her and more pleasing to the husband.” (Reported by Abu Dawud and Al-Baihaqee and declared Hasan by Shaikh Al-Albani)]
Why has coexistence then become so difficult? In Sippo’s view, the difficulties in the convergence of Islam and Christianity are due first, from mutual ignorance, but also in terms of the strict absoluteness evident in Islam’s Sunna. – Christians will examine their own sacred book of the Bible very critically and interpret it consistently again. With the Koran this is not the case. For Muslims, the Koran is word for word, the only truth. That, of course, impedes dialogue.
[TT: A moment of clarity for the cleric, but he quickly descends into fanciful wishful thinking.]
Progress, however, is happening constantly. There was a meeting for religious leaders held at the Islamic Center on Apollo street in Töölö (Finland). -Present were the Finnish Ecumenical Council representatives from the, Lutheran, Orthodox and Catholic Church, as well the representatives from the Jewish and Muslim communities. It was a very constructive and pleasant meeting. Teemu Sippo says that the road to peaceful coexistence throughout the world, is a long one, but in small steps headway is constantly being achieved.
