London, England, May 16, 2006 / 22:00 pm
British Muslims should not remain silent when Christians are being denied their rights or are made subject to sharia law, said Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor.
The archbishop of Westminster spoke Tuesday at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies on the need for respectful dialogue between Christians and Muslims and on the conditions required to make such dialogue to work.
The “main obstacle” to Christian-Muslim dialogue, the cardinal said, was the failure, "in a number of Muslim countries, to uphold the principle of religious freedom," reported Independant Catholic News.
"If we do not enjoy the freedom to practise our religion openly and without fear, then we cannot be honest,” he was quoted as saying. “Dialogue assumes the freedom to witness. It is essential that Muslims can freely worship in Oxford or London, just as it is essential that Christians can freely worship in Riyadh or Kabul.”