Williams: Don’t panic about migrants
-22/11/06
Countries should not “panic” about imm
Williams: Don’t panic about migrants
-22/11/06
Countries should not “panic” about immigrants or succumb to the belief that a standoff between Islamic and Western culture was inevitable, the Archbishop of Canterbury said on Tuesday.
The spiritual leader of the world’s 77 million Anglicans, in Rome to hold his first official meeting with Pope Benedict on Thursday, made his comments in a lecture at a university.
The comments come after the head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales questioned whether Turkey should be able to join the European Union. He echoed comments previously made by Pope Benedict XVI, that the predominantly Muslim state was not culturally part of Europe.
The comments were challenged by both Christians and Muslims.
In his lecture, Rowan Williams also appeared to cast doubt on such an approach.
“The migrant group that is prepared to work within the civic framework of a host society, that aspires simply to citizenship, is one whose voice in the community overall is of significance alongside those who have a longer history and a political or economic advantage,” he said.
Williams, delivering a lecture on the theme of the influence of the 6th century St Benedict on history, said countries should not “panic about migrants”.
Governments should work to better recognise “the gifts and the needs of the incoming stranger who is seeking not simply hospitality but shared belonging”.
Williams said it was a facile to think Islamic civil ideals and Christian or Western ones were so different that they could not even be compared.
He said societies should instead strive to determine how to shape “a common civic purpose” out of the new diversities.
Williams is in Rome to mark the 40th anniversary of the historic meeting between his predecessor, Archbishop Michael Ramsey, and Pope Paul VI in 1966.
That was the first formal meeting between the heads of the two churches since Henry VIII broke with Rome in the 16th century.
In the past 10 years, relations between the two churches have been strained over the issue of women priests and homosexuality.
Williams: Don’t panic about migrants
-22/11/06
Countries should not “panic” about immigrants or succumb to the belief that a standoff between Islamic and Western culture was inevitable, the Archbishop of Canterbury said on Tuesday.
The spiritual leader of the world’s 77 million Anglicans, in Rome to hold his first official meeting with Pope Benedict on Thursday, made his comments in a lecture at a university.
The comments come after the head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales questioned whether Turkey should be able to join the European Union. He echoed comments previously made by Pope Benedict XVI, that the predominantly Muslim state was not culturally part of Europe.
The comments were challenged by both Christians and Muslims.
In his lecture, Rowan Williams also appeared to cast doubt on such an approach.
“The migrant group that is prepared to work within the civic framework of a host society, that aspires simply to citizenship, is one whose voice in the community overall is of significance alongside those who have a longer history and a political or economic advantage,” he said.
Williams, delivering a lecture on the theme of the influence of the 6th century St Benedict on history, said countries should not “panic about migrants”.
Governments should work to better recognise “the gifts and the needs of the incoming stranger who is seeking not simply hospitality but shared belonging”.
Williams said it was a facile to think Islamic civil ideals and Christian or Western ones were so different that they could not even be compared.
He said societies should instead strive to determine how to shape “a common civic purpose” out of the new diversities.
Williams is in Rome to mark the 40th anniversary of the historic meeting between his predecessor, Archbishop Michael Ramsey, and Pope Paul VI in 1966.
That was the first formal meeting between the heads of the two churches since Henry VIII broke with Rome in the 16th century.
In the past 10 years, relations between the two churches have been strained over the issue of women priests and homosexuality.