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September 17, 2006
Despite the Israeli destruction of Lebanon in the second Lebanon war we have comments by Pope Benedict XVI that, as a religion Islam, is tainted with violence. It was part of a lecture delivered at the University of Regensburg in Germany, where Benedict was a professor and vice-rector in 1969-71. In the lecture Bendict argued for two positions: reason must be part of religion; and civilisation needs religion.
The comments about violence and Islam were made in the form of a criticism of the Prophet Mohammad by 14th century Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaeologus. The Pope quoted the following remarks without qualification and with apparent approval:
The emperor comes to speak about the issue of jihad, holy war. He said, I quote, '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.
A Catholic saying that, given the history of Catholicism and its known hostility to Islam? To say that Islam is evil and inhumane overlooks that Islam is a big tent with many competing worldviews (eg., Muslim liberals and fundamentalists). Why not self-criticise Christianity's violent past and its forced conversions? Why not recall the time when medieval Christendom fought science the relationship between faith and reason in traditional Islam was a cooperative one. This, after all, is the political context of today:
Stavro
Benedict 's rhetoric collapses the differences between Islam and terrorism, and sets up good Catholicism (genuine, reasoned faith) vs. evil Islam (the coercive demand for unreasoned faith). If Benedict's point was to illustrate the fundamental contradiction between religion and holy war, isn't spreading the Christian faith through violence also something unreasonable?
Still, the reaction in the Muslim world is over the top, and, ironically, illustrates the Pope's point about violence, reason and religion. Benedict has since apologized. The conservatives are going to have a great time reworking the reaction from the Muslim street into the meme about a violent Islam attacking western civlization. The subtext of the conservatives is that Islam and the Western democracies cannot live together peacefully. Violence is used to illustrate their case.
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Gary this essay provides a unique criticism of the posturing of popes, cardinals, bishops and the corresponding Islamic variations.
1. www.beezone.com/AdiDa/jesusandme.html