I absolutely affirm one’s right to embrace another religion based on one’s convictions. The Qur’an declares that “There is no compulsion in religion,” and this is an essential principle of our faith. Therefore, while I myself cannot imagine leaving my faith in Islam, I do not question anyone’s right to do so. Perhaps Allam experienced something in Christianity that drew him closer to the Divine. The issue here is not the conversion itself, but rather, Pope Benedict’s choice to publicly embrace a man known for his incendiary views of Islam.

Allam is a controversial figure not for his conversion to Christianity, but for his essentialist and reductionist views of Islam. He once said, for example, that “I was forced to see that, beyond the contingency of the phenomenon of Islamic extremism and terrorism that has appeared on a global level, the root of evil is inherent in an Islam that is physiologically violent and historically conflictive.”

Any thinking person would regard these comments as not only offensive, but blatantly wrong. There is no room for this type of hate speech and religion-denigrating in tolerant society, and we must react against it with calm and reasoned indignation. The Dutch Prime Minister, Jan Peter Balkenende, provides an excellent model for this type of response in his repudiation of the recent Dutch film disparaging the Qur’an.

In short, to publicly embrace Allam was not a neutral act, and in light of this Pope’s vexed history with Muslims, I struggle to grant him the benefit of the doubt here. Why did he not privately baptize Allam? Why was Allam not baptized in his home town, as opposed to the Vatican? These would have been more appropriate actions.

Instead, we are left with another controversy, another example of the need for sincere dialogue between Muslims and Catholic. Numerous Muslim leaders have declared their commitment to dialoguing with Pope Benedict and improving Muslim-Catholic relations. In turn, the Pope has stated a similar commitment. In this case, however, he demonstrated a serious lack of caution and sensitivity.

Now it is up to the rest of us to pick up the pieces of mistrust and misunderstanding.