In one recent speech made by the pope he made the mistake of publicly quoting 14th century Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaeologus' criticism of Islam:
"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... [v]iolence is incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul."
What in God's name possessed this man to say something so stupid?!? To begin with, if violence were "incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul," then why would He command the Israelites to basically commit genocide in the OT? Don't get me wrong. I feel that the paradigm that Christ brought mandates that our justice no longer be found on earth (if it ever was), and that for the vast majority of circumstances non-violence makes the most sense. I also feel that faith should never be "spread by the sword," because what good news was ever imparted by a blade?
But to make that statement today about Islam as a whole is just ignorant. Especially given Christianity's track record when it comes to violence. Also, Islam has not sincerely attempted to spread faith by the sword since 1492. Even the fanatic crazies who are blowing themselves up are not hoping to spread Islam so much as to exorcise the earth of the "devil" that is the West (Israel as well, of course).
While I feel like comparing him to Hitler and Mussolini goes a bit far, I think that at least a clarification is in order. The Vatican tried this yesterday evening:
"It was certainly not the intention of the Holy Father to carry out an in-depth study of jihad and Muslim thinking about it, even less so to offend the sensitivity of the Muslim faithful."
So if it wasn't the Holy Pontiff's intention to carry out an in-depth study of Islam, was it his intention to carry out a cursory and horribly wrong study of it?
The Potato
Friday, September 15, 2006
Friday, September 15, 2006
3 Comments:
I did not hear the Pope, so I am working strictly from your post. But I agree that it sounds very foolish. I think I understand the point, but it has the effect of enflaming or escalating tension rather that really holding out the olive branch. In fact it is like using a club to make folks grasp the olive branch.
I am sorry that we have to work against the Pope rather than in tandem. And short of going to muslim nations on a mission myself, which I do not desire, perhaps there are things we can do here "at home" that may help.
I remember a story told by Milton Jones, preacher in Seattle, about the days following the Iran hostage crisis in 79. He was doing campus ministry at UW at the time. What could he do in response to the situation? After praying for a few days he and his staff discerned that in the whole university there were two young ladies from Iran -muslims. They figured that those two probably felt intimidated to be at UW at just that time.
They went for a visit and found the women "hiding" in their dorm room afraid to even go for food. It took a lot of coaxing, but they finally built a trust with them and brought them food and supplies etc to live on. This opened the door for more.
Finally they baptized one of the women. This effectively put her under a death sentence back home. Then Jones and friends had to race against the clock before her visa ran out to get her assylum in the US. During the hostage crisis, every beauracrat to touch the file dragged there feet processing asylum for a muslim from Iran. And she was the first in US history to finally get it.
This woman went on to get a PhD, in what I don't recall, but she his now a citizen all bonafide. I figure now 25 years later, though I do not know for a fact, that she is a powerful resource for the church in America in addressing our current conflicts. Way to go Milton, way to go Jesus!
I suspect the Pope would do well to hear and heed from a story like that. Perhaps he will yet. We can pray for such...
Many blessings....
after having mulled it over a bit with my wife at well, i have realized that this was a very big mistake on the pope's part for another reason: tensions in the muslim world are high enough as it is. these days, all it takes is something as seemingly insignificant as a few cartoons in a newspaper to bring us a significant step closer to if not war, then strife that will divide the world's two largest religions for decades to come.
Here is the full text of the speech:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14848884/
Vatican says that "When giving the speech, the pope stressed that he was quoting the words of a Byzantine emperor and did not comment directly on the “evil and inhuman” assessment.
Bertone [a cardinal], referring Saturday to the emperor’s “opinion,” said “the Holy Father did not mean, nor does he mean, to make that opinion his own in any way.”
The cardinal pointed out that the pope was speaking in an academic setting and suggested that a “complete and attentive reading” of the entire text would make clear the pope’s reflections about the relationship between religion and violence in general.
He said the pope’s speech ended with “clear and radical rejection of the religious motivation for violence, from whatever side it may come.”
The above exerpt from this article:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14861689/
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