Dr Carey's comments, in a lecture in Rome, are the most forthright by a
senior Church leader. He was speaking on the eve of a seminar of
Christian and Muslim scholars in New York, led by his successor as
archbishop, Dr Rowan Williams.

He acknowledged that most Muslims were peaceful people who should not be
demonised. But he said that terrorist acts such as the September 11
attacks on America and the Madrid bombings raised difficult questions.
Contrasting western democracy with Islamic societies, he said:

"Throughout the Middle East and North Africa we find authoritarian
regimes with deeply entrenched leadership, some of which rose to power
at the point of a gun and are retained in power by massive investment in
security forces.

"Whether they are military dictatorships or traditional sovereignties,
each ruler seems committed to retaining power and privilege."
Dr Carey said he was not convinced by arguments that Islam and democracy
were incompatible, citing the example of Turkey.

He urged Europeans and Americans to resist claims that Islamic states
were morally, spiritually and culturally superior.

"Although we owe much to Islam handing on to the West many of the
treasures of Greek thought, the beginnings of calculus, Aristotelian
thought during the period known in the West as the dark ages, it is sad
to relate that no great invention has come for many hundred years from
Muslim countries," he said.

"This is a puzzle, because Muslim peoples are not bereft of brilliant
minds. They have much to contribute to the human family and we look
forward to the close co-operation that might make this possible.

"Yes, the West has still much to be proud of and we should say so
strongly. We should also encourage Muslims living in the West to be
proud of it and say so to their brothers and sisters living elsewhere."
Dr Carey said that, while Christianity and Judaism had a long history of
often painful critical scholarship, Islamic theology was only now being
challenged to become more open to examination.

"In the case of Islam, Mohammed, acknowledged by all in spite of his
religious greatness to be an illiterate man, is said to have received
God's word direct, word by word from angels, and scribes recorded them
later.

"Thus believers are told, because they have come direct from Allah, they
are not to be questioned or revised.

"In the first few centuries of the Islamic era, Islamic theologians
sought to meet the challenge this implied, but during the past 500 years
critical scholarship has declined, leading to strong resistance to
modernity."

Dr Carey said that moderate Muslims must "resist strongly" the taking
over of Islam by radical activists "and to express strongly, on behalf
of the many millions of their co-religionists, their abhorrence of
violence done in the name of Allah".

He said: "We look to them to condemn suicide bombers and terrorists who
use Islam as a weapon to destabilise and destroy innocent lives. Sadly,
apart from a few courageous examples, very few Muslim leaders condemn
clearly and unconditionally the evil of suicide bombers who kill
innocent people.

"We need to hear outright condemnation of theologies that state that
suicide bombers are martyrs and enter a martyr's reward."
Christians, who shared many values with Muslims, such as respect for the
family, must speak out against the persecution they often encountered in
Muslim countries.

"During my time as archbishop, this was my constant refrain: that the
welcome we have given to Muslims in the West, with the accompanying
freedom to worship freely and build their mosques, should be
reciprocated in Muslim lands," he said.

Dr Carey, who initiated several top-level meetings between Christian and
Islamic leaders during his time at Lambeth Palace, urged the West to
tackle the Palestinian problem and other inequalities in the Muslim world.

"It will do us little good if the West simply believes that the answer
is to put an end to Osama bin Laden. Rather, we must put an end to
conditions, distortions and misinformation that create him and his many
emulators."

Iqbal Sacranie, the secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain,
said that Dr Carey's comments "saddened" him.

"He should be well aware that mainstream Muslim organisations have
consistently condemned terrorist acts but their statements are often
ignored by the media," he said.

"Dr Carey is trampling on a very sensitive area by referring to the
Koran and the traditions of the Prophet."

+ + +

Muslims hit back following attack by Carey

By Jonathan Petre, and Graham Tibbetts
Daily Telegraph

3/23/2004

British Muslims reacted with anger yesterday at an attack on Islamic
culture delivered by Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury.
Muslim leaders said his claim that moderates had failed to condemn
suicide bombers was totally unjustified, and rejected his assertion
that Islam, over the past 500 years, had displayed a "strong resistance
to modernity".

Dr George Carey: claim totally unjustified.

In a public lecture in Rome on Thursday evening, Dr Carey had also
criticised the "glaring absence" of democracy in Muslim countries and
said Islamic culture had contributed "no great invention... for many
hundred years".

Manzoor Moghal, chairman of the Federation of Muslim Organisations in
Leicester, said Dr Carey's statement was "disastrous" for relations
between Christians and Muslims.

"He has fallen prey to the campaign tactics of racists in this country,"
he said.

As to the suggestion that Muslim leaders were not doing enough to
criticise terrorists, Mr Moghal said it was "nonsense".

"We condemn suicide bombers, we go on radio, on television, we have made
statements. What more can we do?

"We cannot be responsible for the criminal actions of others - they are
not under our control. The former archbishop has got it wrong."
Dr Zaki Badawi, regarded as a moderate voice in Muslim circles who has
been consulted by Tony Blair on a number of issues, said he was "quite
upset" by the comments.

"I think Dr Carey made a rather unfortunate statement at a time when
there is about to be dialogue between Muslims and Christians in
America," said Dr Badawi, principal of the Muslim College in Ealing,
west London.

He said that Dr Carey's view of Islam was historically inaccurate and
failed to recognise that the West had undermined democratic revolutions
in Iran and Egypt in the 19th and 20th centuries.

The speech also omitted any mention of the British Empire, which
colonised Muslim countries, said Dr Badawi.

He added that the West's recent dominance of technology was more to do
with geography and development than religion.

"I have great affection for Dr Carey but it is unfortunate he delivered
this lecture," he said.

Iqbal Sacranie, secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, was
swift to dismiss the former archbishop's words, denouncing them as
"myopic". He said: "Frankly, one is dismayed by Lord Carey's comments.
"One is surprised to find Lord Carey recycling the same old religious
prejudice in the 21st century."

Ahmed Versi, editor of Muslim News, said: "We hope that the current
Archbishop Rowan Williams - who is very different - will condemn these
views."

But Lord Carey defended his speech yesterday on BBC Radio 4's The World
At One programme.

"It is meant to provoke a reaction. In the same way I look at the West
and Christianity and am equally critical," he said.

"I'm looking at the way we build stereotypes of each other and the way
we must transcend this and I think that a person looking objectively at
the entire speech - five and a half thousand words - will see there's a
balance there...

"So to twist it as an attack on the Islamic world would be far too
simplistic and sadly it does suggest how polarised the world is at the
present moment.

"The positive is that I believe we can do more together. Two great
faiths, Christianity and Islam, working together against extremists on
both sides. That, in fact, was the thrust of my message."
Dr Carey's remarks came just before his successor as Archbishop of
Canterbury, Rowan Williams, leads talks between Christian and Muslim
scholars in New York, which start on Monday.

Although Lambeth Palace would not be drawn into a reaction, the Bishop
of Southwark, the Right Rev Tom Butler, attempted to calm emotions. He
said: "Sometimes opinions will be expressed robustly in either
direction; if this can be handled with maturity and mutual respect,
understanding can be deepened and our dialogue can emerge strengthened."

Dr Carey received encouragement from the leader of an organization which
supports Christian missionaries working in Islamic countries.

Dr Patrick Sookhdeo, director of the Barnabas Fund, said that Dr Carey's
lecture had taken "great courage".

"He has spent years establishing dialogue with Islam. Now he recognizes
that the core of Islam must be radically changed if there is going to
be any change in their attitude towards suicide bombing and so on. This
is a departure for the Church," he said.

"He is going to get a lot of flak from the Muslim community, who will
feel that he has betrayed them, and from the liberal wing of the Church
of England who will feel that he has stepped out of line."

END