Auxiliary Bishop Denis Madden of Baltimore, who chairs the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, has expressed concern about rising fear of Islam in the wake of atrocities committed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
Stressing the importance of engaging in dialogue “with the religion many people automatically (and wrongly) blame for this violence,” Bishop Madden said in a September 2 blog post that “Muslim leaders in the United States, including the Islamic Society of North America and the Muslim Public Affairs Council, have been resolute in their condemnation of the violence in Iraq and Syria.”
Bishop Madden added:
Unjust aggressors must be stopped, as Pope Francis has recently asserted ... Our response to evil and violence cannot be fear of others. Fear destroys everything it touches. By continually strengthening relationships with those of differing cultural, social and religious heritage, fear is overcome.