
In an interfaith meeting today with Pope Benedict XVI, Muslim American leaders delivered a letter calling for meaningful dialogue on Muslim-Catholic issues. An initiative of the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), the letter called for vital engagement between the head of the Catholic Church and Muslim Americans.
The debut of the latest anti-Muslim mini-film, entitled "Fitna", from extreme rightwing Dutch parliamentarian Geert Wilders last week was highly anticipated for the expected violent backlash it would provoke. Five days after its Internet release and millions of downloads later, the so-called backlash has amounted to little more than a ripple among Muslims worldwide.
Last week, a prominent Muslim-born Italian writer became a Catholic in a widely televised baptism by Pope Benedict XVI. By itself this is neither newsworthy nor significant, but the Pope's decision to personally perform the high profile Easter Sunday Baptism of converts to Catholicism sends conflicting signals.
We, the undersigned, call upon all Americans of conscience to counter the Islamophobia disseminated through the screening of "Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West" by the Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum on Friday, January 18, 2008.
Earlier today, Pakistan's former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in a suicide attack, after addressing an election rally in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. MPAC condemns this and all acts of terrorism, and calls upon the Pakistani government to take all measures to halt the violence that has already occurred as a result of Bhutto's death.