Saturday, September 16, 2006

The Pope and Islam

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

You all know how much I respect the British newspaper, the Guardian. And one of my favorite columnists on matters religious is Giles Fraser. Today he weighs in on the issue of the Pope's insult to Islam in an article entitled "The unmistakable whiff of Christian triumphalism". It is subtitled, "This was no casual slip. Beneath his scholarly rhetoric, the Pope's logic seemed to be that Islam is dangerous and godless."

Here are a couple of excerpts:

John Paul II's pontificate was largely defined by his relationship with a global conflict between west and east. Last Tuesday evening, in a badly judged speech before a home crowd of Bavarian academics, Benedict XVI may well have set the parameters of his own period as Pope, pitching himself into a debate over Islam that has prompted outrage throughout the Muslim world.

"Show me just what Muhammad 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." These were not the Pope's words, but those of an obscure Byzantine emperor, Manuel II Paleologos, back in the 14th century. And yes, the Pope did make it clear he was offering a quotation. Even so, these words fell from the lips of the spiritual leader of a billion Christians without anything like enough qualification. There was no phrase distancing himself from the claim that Muhammad was responsible for evil. It's little surprise, therefore, that the remarks have roused anger and demands for a personal apology.
...
For the most part, the Pope's address was a scholarly exercise that sought to challenge the idea that rationality is intrinsically and necessarily secular. We must "overcome the self-imposed limitation of reason to the empirically verifiable", he insisted. Most Christians would agree. But even here there was a sharp criticism of Islam buried beneath the scholarly rhetoric. For the Pope argued that in Muslim teaching, because "God is absolutely transcendent", He is "not bound up with any of our categories, even that of rationality". In other words, there is no reasoning in or with Islam. Which, surely, is another way of the Pope saying how dangerous he thinks Islam is.


It was an insult. It was more than an insult; it was throwing down the gauntlet. I recommend that you click through and read the entire column along with the comments that follow. I do think something very serious has taken place. The Pope's remarks are adding fuel to the already considerable raging fire of widespread Muslim belief that the West has embarked upon another Crusade against Islam.

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous2:55 PM

    Ellie

    Basic Koran based Islam is "evil and inhuman" towards people who are not Muslims.

    Although there have been many "evil and inhuman" Christians, basic Gospel based Christianity is the exact opposite of "evil and inhuman."

    This is the fact Benny was stating.

    Just as the people of South Africa had to face the truths of their history before they could move on to build a new country - so must Islam and Christianity face the truths of their histories (and not just Christians who are so good at grovelling), before we can move on to build a new world together.

    Until Muslims, especially those in authority, stop squawking like petulant children every time someone calls them, or their prophet, a rude name, and take a more civilised and enlightened view of the complexity of the world, like the west has had to, we will never get anywhere.

    Anyway, a lot of them are enjoying this - shouting and exageration are part of their culture. At the end of the day Muslims are as thick skinned or thin skinned as everyone else They are also as clever as everybody else and know how to use a situation to their own advantage (if they are allowed to) like everybody else.

    You nice people - I despair of you sometimes.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ah, MadPriest. Non-Christians who read the Bible can say that about us. I have even known CHRISTIANS who used the words of Jesus to the Pharisees, "You are of your father, the devil," to claim that non-Christians are children of Satan and not children of God.

    My point is that the Pope is being recklessly inflammatory given today's political climate.

    ReplyDelete

New policy: Anonymous posts must be signed or they will be deleted. Pick a name, any name (it could be Paperclip or Doorknob), but identify yourself in some way. Thank you.