Bishop hails a voice of moderation

Catholic Bishop Dr Paul Tan Chee Ing described as “literally manna from heaven” the views of a Muslim academic in Malaysiakini yesterday that he said were “the embodiment of moderation in all things religious.”

Referring to the article written by university don Mohamad Tajuddin Mohammad Rasdi headlined ‘Christians, Muslims are siblings of the same calling’, the current president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei, said:

“Because of Muslims’ hypersensitivity to all things Islamic, non-Muslims are constrained from commenting on matters where Muslim concerns overlap with Christian concerns and the concerns of others among non-Muslims.

“Thus when an obviously learned person like Mohammad Tajuddin holds forth the way he has done in his article, we have to stay the impulse to conclude that supremacist Muslim is the mainstream Islamic stance.

“That is a wholly liberating experience because you cannot really have inter-religious dialogue if one or the other party affects a strongly supremacist stance," added Bishop Paul Tan (left).

“This is not to mean you cannot hold your claims to truth to be final and ultimate; it’s just that the way you hold it invites dialogue rather than freezes it.


“The way Mohamad Tajuddin espouses his views, you may say he stands firmly on the pedestal of his beliefs but his eyes survey the world. That is the quintessential position of a moderate.”

Bishop Paul Tan said Mohamad Tajuddin’s had a salutary starting point which is the One Creator from whom, it can be inferred, all humanity derived their dignity.

“All humanity is the progeny of the One Creator which rationally implies the brotherhood of all humans,” deduced the bishop.

“I compliment the writer on this starting point because it is the solid and rational basis for the unity of the human family,” he said.   

Shrill clamour of the extremists
 
The head of the Catholic Church in the Melaka-Johor diocese, Bishop Paul Tan said he was “hugely relieved to find a voice of moderation at a time when such voices are mute or drowned  by the shrill clamour of extremists, who can only see their position to the exclusion of all else.”

Referring to the entirety of the views of Mohamad Tajuddin who chastised Dr Hasan Ali (right in photo), the former Selangor state minister for Islamic affairs, for raising the dubious spectre of Christian proselytisation of Muslims, Bishop Paul Tan said, “They are literally like manna from heaven.”

The Jesuit-trained prelate said non-Muslims in Malaysia have with growing apprehension looked for voices of Muslim moderation to engage with in a common quest for solutions to society’s problems.

“But this search has been increasingly forlorn because of the supremacist and exclusivist strains propounded by influential Muslims,” observed the bishop.

“Consequently, dialogue and interaction between adherents of the various faiths is strained and distant. In recent times, this has been exacerbated by accusations over something that is inherently dubious - alleged Christian proselytisation of Muslims.

“Thus when you find someone like Mohamad Tajuddin saying the things he has said about the dubiousness of such claims, it comes as a refreshing sponge down one’s neck,” added Bishop Paul Tan.

“I cannot overstate the relief I feel that there are still voices of moderation left in our land. It only goes to show that we should never abandon hope.

“Indeed faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen,” concluded the Jesuit-trained prelate, quoting from Scripture.