The Wall Street Journal: Benedict the Brave

The pope said things Muslims need to hear about faith and reason.

Tuesday, September 19, 2006 12:01 a.m. EDT

It's a familiar spectacle: furious demands for an apology, threats, riots, violence. Anything can trigger so-called Muslim fury: a novel by a British-Indian writer, newspaper cartoons in a small Nordic country or, this past week, a talk on theology by the head of the Roman Catholic Church.

In a lecture on "Faith and Reason" at the University of Regensburg in Germany, Benedict XVI cited one of the last emperors of Byzantium, Manuel II Paleologus. Stressing the 14th-century emperor's "startling brusqueness," the pope quoted him as saying: "Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached."

For the whole article, go here: http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110008963.

Comments

[charlotte de lony]

In regard to the lecture of our dear beloved Pope, all I have to say is, 'The Truth Hurts'....

Charlotte

[Jackson]

"Truth, the bitter truth."

-Stendhal

[Les]

"The pope isn't condemning Islam; he is inviting it to join rather than reject the modern world.
By their reaction to the pope's speech, some Muslim leaders showed again that Islam has a problem with modernity that is going to have to be solved by a debate within Islam."

What has modernity to offer them? Is it George Bush's world? Is it America? We have to keep telling ourselves that it is great to be free, despite the few problems like aberrant lifestyles, rampant narcisism, rampant divorce, alienated children, sex-saturated media, a billion dollar porn industry, massive abortion, obesity approaching the number one health problem in adults and children. It's a hard sell, even to a peaceful Muslim practicing his religion in austerity somewhere in the middle east.
There's an axiom that I think originates within capitalism, "it's all about the money." In other words, when it comes to real motivation, follow the money. We can talk about religious zealotry, but nudge, nudge, wink, wink, when it really comes down to it, follow the money. As followers of money we presume that everyone else in the world is a follower too.
Perhaps. But maybe, just maybe, we should consider the notion that some people in the world would rather follow their religion.
If we accept that premise, then we have changed the paradigm, and perhaps we need to rethink strategy. And in that context it is really only the Catholic Church, some 2000 years old, and the Pope who can actually be the bridge between the two worlds, because, hated or not in the Muslim world, the Church is the only institution in the west that has any credibility left for the seriously religious around the world.
And that doesn't come from platitudes and obfuscation. It comes from clear positions and the invitation to serious dialogue on core issues. This is what our Holy Father has initiated. I am convinced he understands the big picture and what his role can be. Right now he has their attention and violent as some of the reaction is, it's a start.

[pazdziernik]

Christians and others especially in the West also need to hear Pope Benedict's message. But not principally about Islam. Sola Scriptura, “morality without worship”, and re-inculturation of a “simple message” are the broad lines that Pope Benedict traveled in his Regensburg lecture. These are very interesting topics that are encountered often even, if they are not always identified as such. Given the depth and breadth of the lecture presentation, it is safe to say that these are the topics that occupy a great part of Benedict's time. It is obvious that "insulting Islam" is no where in the Holy Father's orbit of interests.