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The Pope and Islam and the speech in Regensburg
Pope Benedict, in a guest lecture at Regensburg University during his trip to Bavaria this week, spoke about the challenges of Islamic extremism and Western secularism. (Read the full text of the speech here.)
In one part he quoted a 14th-century Byzantine emperor, who said:
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.
He used that quote to reject religious justifications for the spreading of faith through violence. He said, “Violence is is incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul.“
Although the Pope’s speech was more wide-ranging, that was the money quote that got all the attention. For one thing, the lecture was the only secular event in a week of Masses and prayer services, which meant that reporters really only focused on this one talk. For another thing, any mention of Islam by the leader of the Catholic Church gets major headlines, especially if the mention is a criticism.
This has got the Islamic world up in arms, especially considering his trip to Turkey in November, and so the Vatican is engaging in some damage control. This morning, the papal spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi, issued a statement, emphasizing that the point of the Pope’s quotation was to refute religious motivations for violence. He said, “It was certainly not the intention of the Holy Father to undertake a comprehensive study of the jihad and of Muslim ideas on the subject, still less to offend the sensibilities of Muslim faithful.“
The Pope—and Manuel II—were right the first time
Technorati Tags:Catholic, Islam, pope benedict xvi, Regensburg, religious dialogue, religious persecution, Vatican
Instead, he tried to deflect attention upon the rest of the speech, which criticized secular rejection of religion.
“Quite the contrary, what emerges clearly from the Holy Father’s discourses is a warning, addressed to Western culture, to avoid ‘the contempt for God and the cynicism that considers mockery of the sacred to be an exercise of freedom.‘ A just consideration of the religious dimension is, in fact, an essential premise for fruitful dialogue with the great cultures and religions of the world. And indeed, in concluding his address in Regensburg, Benedict XVI affirmed how ‘the world’s profoundly religious cultures see this exclusion of the divine from the universality of reason as an attack on their most profound convictions. A reason which is deaf to the divine and which relegates religion into the realm of subcultures is incapable of entering into the dialogue of cultures.‘
“What is clear then, is the Holy Father’s desire to cultivate an attitude of respect and dialogue towards other religions and cultures, including, of course, Islam.“
What’s ironic is that the quote was right, whole quote. The papal spokesman would tell us that the Pope disagrees with the first part of the quote from Emperor Manuel II Paleologus—that Mohammed has only brought evil and inhuman things to the world—and was only agreeing with the second part, that the command to spread Islam by the sword was evil.
Even if that were so, Muslims will still reject the implication that jihad is evil and are already claiming that the Pope doesn’t understand jihad.
Yet, I would contend that Manuel II was right on the first part, that what Islam has brought is evil and inhumanity, that it is a heresy and a blasphemy and a false religion, and that it ought to be rejected. And if Pope Benedict were to say that in public, it would result in worldwide bombings of churches and the murder of Christians. Which, ironically, would only prove the point.
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