The religion department chair of Temple University gave a presentation titled, “A Muslim’s Assessment of the Spiritual Vision of Gaudium et Spes,” to continue with the fifth installment of the Wolfington Center’s Lenten Lecture series.
“I may not agree with all the points made in Gaudium et Spes, but I respect them,” Dr. Khalid Blankinship said, before he began his presentation on Wednesday, March 25 in the Mansion.
The Lenten Lecture series this year is a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, Gaudium et Spes. This document, which was written during the second Vatican Council and during the time of Pope Paul VI in 1965, makes the connection between the position of the church in the world, faith and the human race.
The main theme of Blankinship’s presentation was the similarities between Catholics and Muslims. He also touched on many points about certain topics in Gaudium et Spes and the relevance that it has in the world today, since it was written 50-years-ago.
One of the first topics of the Gaudium et Spes that Blankinship discussed is its idea of respect for all human beings. Then the document makes certain claims of what makes someone an atheist. Blankinship did not agree with these specific claims.
The topic of science and its role in our society was discussed. Gaudium et Spes said that there should be a moral constraint on science because of the consequences that it will server in the long run, for example how technology has negatively impacted our society. Blankinship talked about how unconstrained science could sound beneficial at first but all aspects need to be considered. He then made the point of over population and how this problem will only get worse with the advances in medicine.
“Society needs to consider the issues that the public office is not,” Blankinship said.
A topic which is not covered in the Gaudium et Spes is the role of technology and media in our society, since it was written 50-years-ago. However Blankinship thinks that this is an important topic that should be reported on by the church, since it plays such a huge role in our daily lives.
There was a point that Blankinship talked about individual mortality and the duty of a community in both Catholic and Muslim religions.
“An individual mortality without community means we are truly lost, “ said Blankinship. “Community is important to any religion.”
