James Foley: Catholic Martyr or Apostate? The Two Faces of Islam and the Unfathonable Mystery of the Human Heart!

Sunday NY Times (Feb.22, 2015) featured a fascinating piece on James Foley, the photo-journalist who was brutally executed by Isis: while he was being honored as a Catholic martyr, word was spreading from fellow captives that he had converted to Islam in captivity. His family offered a window of insight: in an earlier captivity in Libya he had taken to praying with Muslims and he later described his ambivalence. He was aware of the tension of his prayer to Jesus and theirs to Allah and yet he felt a certain union with them in prayer. After the Libyan captivity, he spoke at Marquette, (his Jesuit Alma Mater where he would likely have imbibed a positive attitude to Islam): "So, from then on out I prayed with them five times a day. It was so powerful, and it was something I needed to do to commune with these guys who were relying on their faith in Allah. But it was difficult. I was thinking, 'Jesus, am I praying to Allah? Am I violating my belief in you?' I don't have an answer to that. I just know that I was authentically with them, and I was authentically praying to Jesus. I don't know theologically. But I thought I was being authentic." And so, it seems that later, in his fatal captivity, he also "converted" probably for practical reasons to be free of beatings and have peace to pray five times a day. He seems to have intimately engaged with the two faces of Islam: the dark and the light. He suffered torture and execution. At the same time, he bonded with his fellow captives in shared prayer. One of his fellows latter said he was most interested in the Koran and understanding Islam. I imagine he was in a life-and-death struggle of "discerning" in that ancient tradition what would be good for his still-Christian soul and what bad. Islam is in large part an acceptance of Divine Revelation: monotheism, creation, the Torah. But, much like Mormonism and other "Christian" cults, it deviates in profound ways: basically Arian, it explicitly rejects the divinity of Christ and the Trinity, it reverts to primitive and pre-Christian acceptance of polygamy and therefore misogyny, and it rejects Jesus' mysticism of forgiveness in favor of violence. As Pope Benedict pointed out in his brilliant Regensburg Address, it is also irrational in its dismissal of reason and truth in favor of a willful deity. While we can abstractly parse out the demonic from the angelic in the religion, when we meet a Muslim we face a far deeper Mystery, a person with a heart and intellect and spirit! The weeds and wheat flourish together and practically they cannot be disengaged this side of the Parousia. This ambiguity calls to mind one of the very few theological disagreements between the Great Popes, John Paul and Benedict: the prayer with the religions at Assisi. St. John Paul was quite comfortable in this communion; but Benedict feared confusion. Perhaps the first was more fervent in his hunger for the good, for communion, for reconciliation; and the later more passionate about the truth and the right. Perhaps both were "right" in complementary ways: so catholic and broad is the Church! Foley seems to have been closer to St. John Paul. I consider him a saint, although one who probably won't be canonized. May he pray for us and for peace with our Muslim brothers and sisters!