Francis Arinze

This book came out after 9/11. So there was a great deal of soul searching going on, especially in America. Among religious leaders some wanted to be seen as promoting unity and solidarity. This author is a cardinal in the Catholic Church which means he is a special advisor to the Pope. At the time that would have been John Paul II. Arinze is from Nigeria and converted to Catholicism at age 9. He had been involved with inter-religious dialogue for many years. Inter-religious means non-Christian religions. For some reason, Arinze, assumes that everyone in the world can be more united because they live like Americans. This is a false assumption and hazardous first premise. Arinze says, “…this is greatly helped by a recognition that all human beings belong to one family, that they have one Creator and a single origin, that human nature is the same for all people, that they have all been redeemed by Jesus Christ, and that they are all called to the same final end.” Arinze begins there but in doing so has already solved all the problems of religious plurality that exist and that would hinder further unified action toward justice. That would defeat the purpose of the book at the outset. He gives several items to be implemented by each religious group such as goodwill gestures, there should be non-relativist virtue based teachings, engaging in joint projects, disarmament or reductions in the arms trade, learning to be religiously self-critical and asking for pardon (from humanity in general). There should be the education of youth and the promotion of family. All public authorities should promote and protect the religious rights of individual citizens. Arinze does not know that only in America are religious liberties protected by a constitution. England has a king who is also the head of the Anglican Church, a state sponsored church. America has no state sponsored church, and any establishment of a state church is forbidden by the constitution. American ideals of freedom float around the world and end up in strange places. Arinze’s final words are that we should not pursue a sloganeering peace of empty words but a peace which only the Vicar of Christ could lead and promote. There are some interesting things in this book but too many hypotheticals that people would want peaceful coexistence minus excessive economic social inequality. Most people would prefer economic social equality first and religious freedom later. The American system gives religious freedom first and economic stability later.… (more)