Thursday, March 05, 2009
Religious are shocked by the Al Azhar-Vatican on the revision of textbooks, by Marie-Eve Marineau
The final declaration of the Committee for Dialogue between Catholics and Muslims who met in Rome on 24 and 25 February on the theme "Promoting a pedagogy and a culture of peace ', provides that" textbooks should be reviewed so that they do not contain documents that could affect the religious sentiments of other believers, sometimes through a false dogmas, ethical or historical reconstructions of other religions. "
IslamOnline reported a worrying but not surprising.
An agreement between the Vatican and Al Azhar raised eyebrows
An agreement on the rewriting of textbooks between Al-Azhar, the seat of the highest authority in matters of religious education in the Sunni world, and the Vatican, gave the university Egyptian anger.
"Muslims respect all other religions, told IslamOnline.net Sheikh Youssef al-Badri, a preacher and former official of Al-Azhar.
"I challenge anyone to find such materials offensive in our textbooks. "
Religious leaders of Al-Azhar met with the Vatican cardinals in Rome on February 24 and 25 to discuss measures to develop friendly relations and peace in the world.
They suggested that textbooks should be rewritten to expunge any content that might offend the religion of another.
"The textbooks should be reviewed so that they do not contain documents that could affect the religious sentiments of other believers, sometimes through a false dogmas, ethical or historical reconstructions of other religions," have they wrote in a statement.
The document does not specify how the two major religions proceed.
The statement has raised the anger of religious leaders of Egypt, including some of Al-Azhar.
They argue strongly that the textbooks in Muslim countries do not contain offensive material, and it is rather the West needs to review its own textbooks.
"Muslims have no need to rewrite their books," says Taha Riyan, a professor of religion at Al-Azhar. "Islam calls for respect for other religions. "
The authorities of Al-Azhar said that the Grand Imam Sheikh Mohamed Sayed Tantawi has ordered a review of textbooks long ago, and that these books contain no trace of insult against the other religions.
Like many people, El-Badri said that the problem is rather the part of Westerners who defame Islam and Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessing be upon him).
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Labels: Egypt, Marie-Êve Marineau, Religion and fanaticism
# posted by Francis Chartrand @ 3:01 AM 
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