SENTINEL WATCH November 6, 2006 Issue

STAYING AWAKE FOR THE FAMILY OF MAN

ALLISON PHINNEY

A PAPAL SPEECH quotes a medieval scholar's judgment on Mohammed. A Muslim extremist disdains the attempt to explain and pacify, and harks back to 11th-century Christian religious crusades mounted against Muslims in the Middle East. Threats of jihad, or crusade in reverse, hang in the air.

Is it inevitable? Could two of the world's largest religious cultures be goaded further into global conflict? Tensions between the two have certainly been heightened by extremist fatwas authorizing global holy wars, as well as by Western military power frequently perceived as a means of imposing a secular culture on others. In this atmosphere, even small events have been enough to set off violent protests and widespread loss of life.

It all bears watching. Not the watching of repetitive television broadcasts, in passive, largely powerless mode, but the spiritual vigilance that can remain uniquely awake to the concrete presence and power of good.