PM warns religious rift threatens global stability
Malaysiakini.com
Nov 28, 2006

Ties between Muslims and Christians are under "extreme stress" and the growing divide between the faiths is threatening international stability, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said.

Abdullah, the current chair of the 57-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference, called on the United Nations to hold a special conference to address the schism.

The rift is "one of the gravest threats to international stability in the history of the world," he said in a speech at a United Nations function late yesterday.

Detailing the geopolitical reasons behind the rift, Abdullah touched on anger in Muslim countries over flashpoints plaguing the Middle East.

"The Muslim world sees the suppression of Palestine, the invasion of Afghanistan, the conquest of Iraq and the destruction of Lebanon as a complicity to humiliate Muslim countries," he said.

But the prime minister, who is an Islamic scholar by training, also outlined ideological differences between the two religions and criticized Christian states in the west for dismissing Islamic practice.

"Muslims see the refusal of the Christian west to acknowledge Islam as a way of life for all Muslims as intolerance and arrogance," he said.

Clash of civilizations

Abdullah said secularism in western societies, especially Europe, had seen religion removed from the public domain.

"They expect Muslims, especially those living in their societies, to do the same," he said.

"Of course, this runs counter to the teachings of Islam which its followers must use as a guide in conducting all their affairs whether in the public domain or in their private homes."

Abdullah called on the international community to tackle the issue, which he said could not be allowed to degenerate into "the clash of civilizations".

"It is critical that the full weight of the multilateral process be brought to bear to arrest the fast-developing slide in the relations between the two great civilizations of the world," he said.

"The United Nations might do well to convene a special conference to address all the issues that has brought extreme stress to the state of affairs between the Christian west and the Muslim world."

Malaysia is a majority-Muslim country and Abdullah is known for promoting a moderate form of the religion which emphasized scientific and economic development.
    
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