An imam? How could this be? How could a man who has dedicated his life to understanding the Qur’an and Sunnah properly miss the peaceful passages that are so paramount and blazingly obvious to non-Muslim authorities on Islam such as John Kerry, David Cameron, Pope Francis, and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops? Why doesn’t the USCCB dispatch a bishop who is extremely learned in Islam, say, Robert McManus or Kevin Farrell or Jaime Soto, to Berlin to explain to this wayward imam who misunderstands his own religion that, as the Pope sagely put it, “authentic Islam and the proper reading of the Koran are opposed to every form of violence”?

While they’re at it, maybe they could send one of the learned bishops, preferably an Arabic-speaking one from one of the Eastern Catholic Churches that have been decimated by Muslim persecution, over to Raqqa to explain to the caliph of the Islamic State how he is misunderstanding his religion of peace. I’m sure the caliph will receive him hospitably, be abashed at his misunderstanding, and disband the Islamic State forthwith.

“Berlin Police Arrest Imam on Terrorism Charges,” Associated Press, October 15, 2015: