In 2004, the former Archbishop of Canterbury (Lord Carey of Clifton) gave this controversial speech in Rome on Islam ...
... but ever since, he, and all the rest of the Church leaders, have been remarkably silent. One can therefore but ask oneself one simple question: If the former Archbishop of Canterbury could speak with such clarity and precision in 2004, why is he so silent today? And why are no Church leaders speaking any sense about Islam anymore? Clearly, the voice of sanity in the Church has been silenced. The sad reality is this: Political correctness dominates even in the Church of England today.

Address given by Lord Carey of Clifton at the Gregorian University, Rome, on Thursday, March 25 in which he criticised Islamic culture and regimes: 'Christianity and Islam: Collison [sic] or convergence?'

"However, wherever we look, Islam seems to be embroiled in conflict with other faiths and other cultures. It is in opposition to practically every other world religion- to Judaism in the Middle East; to Christianity in the West, in Nigeria, and in the Middle East; to Hinduism in India; to Buddhism, especially since the destruction of the Temples in Afghanistan.

We are presented therefore with a huge puzzle concerning Islam. Why is it associated with violence throughout the world? Is extremism so ineluctably bound up with its faith that we are at last seeing its true character? Or could it be that a fight for the soul of Islam is going on that requires another great faith, Christianity, to support and encourage the vast majority of Muslims who resist this identification of their faith with terrorism?"

...

"Thus, believers are told, because they have come direct from Allah they are not to be questioned or revised. As it happens, in the first few centuries of the Islamic era, Islamic theologians sought to meet the challenge this implied, but during the past five hundred years critical scholarship has declined leading to strong resistance to modernity." ... "Saudi Arabia will not allow Christian worship and Christian priests and ministers are not allowed to function as such in that land. Muslim leaders often tell Christians and Jews that 'there is no compulsion in religion'. This sadly is only half true. If non-Muslims are not compelled to become Muslim, Muslims are not free to choose another faith. There is, we find, some compulsion, after all." Carey speech on Islam in full

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