[maryz]

It can be argued that the Regensburg lecture will turn out to be the most important statement by a world leader in the post–September 11 period.

Looks like it already, from the amount of comment it's drawing.

Thanks for posting this -- always good to have Fr. Neuhaus's take.

[sine_nomine]

I have met Neuhaus. He is an important commentator on the religious scene. I agree with everything from his article, except I have not met the pope.

I often read Byzantine history because that forgotten empire fought against Islam for so many centuries and preserved Europe in doing so. There were times when the Ottoman Empire was tolerand of Christians and Jews, but they never tired of expanding to take over the West. That dream will never die.

Why did the Muslims conquer a worn-out city, Constantinople? Why did they even try? Because Constantinople was the symbol of Christianity, the ultimate conquest.

[saradippity]

If those silly modernists,or whatever, hadn't pulled the "Baltimore Catechism" and the beautiful ordering it provided,the Pope might at least have the majority of Catholics understanding the challenge he has thrown to the world.

Instead we have to overcome the inane (for all practical purposes) replacement which has permitted "feelings", to replace or at least suppress, "knowledge" as basic to understanding the natural and supernatural world.

The poor Holy Father has to build on a virtual tabula rasa.