Address given by Lord Carey of Clifton

at the Gregorian University, Rome, on Thursday, 25 March 2004 (excerpt)

In a speech delivered as the McCarthy Visiting Professor at the Gregorian University for 2004 on the theme "Christianity and Islam: Collison or convergence?" archbishop Carey of the Anglican Church said among other things:

"To give credit where credit is due, although we owe much to Islam handing on to the West many of the treasures of Greek thought, the beginnings of calculus, Aristotelian thought during the period known in the West as 'the dark ages', it is sad to relate that no great invention has come for many hundreds of years from Muslim countries.

This is a puzzle, because Muslim peoples are not bereft of brilliant minds. They have much to contribute to the human family and we look forward to the close co-operation that might make this possible.

Yes, the West has still much to be proud of and we should say so strongly. We should also encourage Muslims living in the West to be proud of it to [sic] and to say so to their brothers and sisters living elsewhere. "

Reference

Times online (26 March 2004 ) Carey speech on Islam in full. (accessed 7 April 2004).

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