“Just like us.”
The phrase or some variant of it has long been used by priests and prelates to convince Catholics to seek solidarity with Muslims.
Ever since the publication of Nostra Aetate in 1965, the claim that Christians and Muslims share much in common has become the basis for interreligious dialogue with Muslims. Thus, Nostra Aetate declares that Muslims worship one God (just like us) that they hold to an Abrahamic faith (just like us) revere Jesus (just like us), honor Mary (just like us) and value the moral life (just like us.)
The message of Nostra Aetate spread like wildfire in the Church: in seminaries, Catholic colleges, secondary schools, and catechism classes. For its part, Pauline Press published My Muslim Friend, a book designed to give children, parents, and teachers “a new understanding and appreciation of Islam.”
More recently, Catholic prelates have gone beyond “just like us” and seem to be suggesting that they (Muslims) are better than us. In June, Archbishop Weisenburger of Detroit spoke at the grand opening of a mosque and Islamic Center and positively gushed about his experience. In addition to speaking of “divine space” and “deeper community with our one God,” the archbishop talked about his feelings: “There is nowhere that I feel greater honor, fraternity, and kindness, and from the moment I drove onto this beautiful property today, I very fully felt the sense of the divine presence.”
The habit of praising Islam and Muslim is also rampant among secular leaders. At an Iftar celebration last year, then Prime Minister, Keith Starmer told his audience, “Muslims are successful, brilliant, and creative people. They have made a huge contribution to Britain’s history. They are kind, artistic, and educated. They are fantastic people.”
Of course, some individual Muslims are “fantastic” people, and some are not. The same is true of Americans, Irish, and Italians. Starmer was merely trying to compliment the culture that shaped the Muslim community, and to send the message to his fellow Britons that Muslims are just like us.
Starmer, more than most, knows that’s not true. There may be many fine and upstanding people in the Muslim community, but their culture is, in crucial ways, quite different from British culture.
Starmer knows this well because he helped to cover up what has been described as the worst crime in English history—the Pakistani rape gang scandal.
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