Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Pope Invites Muslims to Dialogue, Slams "Holy Wars"(Hooray for the Pope!)
Reuters News Service ^ | Sep 12, 2006 | Philip Pullella and Madeline Chambers

Posted on 09/12/2006 11:52:19 AM PDT by kellynla

REGENSBURG, Germany (Reuters) - Pope Benedict invited Muslims on Tuesday to join a dialogue of cultures based on the premise that the concept of an Islamic "holy war" is unreasonable and against God's nature.

In a major lecture at Regensburg University, where he taught theology between 1969 to 1977, Benedict said Christianity is tightly linked to reason and contrasted this view with those who believe in spreading their faith by the sword.

The 79-year-old Pontiff avoided making a direct criticism of Islam, packaging his comments in a highly complex academic lecture with references ranging from ancient Jewish and Greek thinking to Protestant theology and modern atheism.

In his lecture, the Pope quoted, among others, the 14th century Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologos who wrote that Mohammad had brought things "only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached."

The Pope, who used the terms "jihad" and "holy war" in his lecture, added in his own words: "Violence is incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul".

Benedict several times quoted Emperor Manuel's argument that spreading the faith through violence is unreasonable and that acting without reason -- "logos" in the original Greek -- was against God's nature.

At the end of his lecture, the Pope again quoted Manuel and said: "It is to this great 'logos', to this breadth of reason, that we invite our partners in the dialogue of cultures."

(Excerpt) Read more at today.reuters.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; Foreign Affairs
KEYWORDS: benedictxvi; catholic; catholicism; germany; iran; iraq; islam; israel; jihad; moralabsolutes; muslims; pope; terrorism; terrorists; wot
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 121-135 next last
To: pissant

Amen!!! I think he's stronger than JP II.....LOVE him!!


41 posted on 09/12/2006 12:45:20 PM PDT by Suzy Quzy ("When Cabals Go Kabooms"....upcoming book on Mary McCarthy's Coup-Plotters.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: No.6
"I'm not Catholic but I'm definitely for giving fellow Christians more of a break and not trying to deconstruct their words; we are on the same team after all."

Bump!

Kind of like Tony Snow at today's press conference trying to make the media understand that it is UNITY that will win the war.

42 posted on 09/12/2006 12:46:32 PM PDT by sageb1 (This is the Final Crusade. There are only 2 sides. Pick one.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 36 | View Replies]

To: Gamecock
Now, now, he lost touch in his old days due to Parkinson's disease, and his time is now over anyway. Our new pontiff is well aware of the evil of Islam, and will be much more direct with them, and I am sure he must have cringed when he saw Pope JPII do that.
43 posted on 09/12/2006 12:47:45 PM PDT by Theoden (Fidei Defensor)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies]

To: ArrogantBustard

Where is that from? I've never seen it before.


44 posted on 09/12/2006 12:48:01 PM PDT by sageb1 (This is the Final Crusade. There are only 2 sides. Pick one.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 38 | View Replies]

To: sageb1

It's a detail from a frescoe painted in some moderately obscure, but very old Catholic Church in Italy. The whole frescoe depicts various unfortunates, whom the artist believed to have been damned, being subjected to various tortures in Hell. While amusing, such depiction is theologically problematic. The Church canonizes Saints, but does not proclaim that any specific person is actually in Hell (although she most definitely does teach that Hell is populated).


45 posted on 09/12/2006 12:51:49 PM PDT by ArrogantBustard (Western Civilisation is aborting, buggering, and contracepting itself out of existence.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 44 | View Replies]

To: Torie
"At his university lecture, Benedict, a leading theologian who has always drawn clear lines between Roman Catholicism and other faiths, also appeared to criticize Protestant churches and contemporary Third World theologians for not stressing the link between faith and reason clearly enough."

What does the Pope mean by the above? Protestant churches in any event cover the gamut.

I believe it's a reference to papal remarks covered on this thread, in which the Pope decries the dehellenization of reason and faith.

See my post #3 for an excerpt of his remarks, in which he discusses the Protestant Reformation specifically. I believe this is what your quote, above, is referring to.

46 posted on 09/12/2006 12:54:23 PM PDT by Alex Murphy (Colossians 2:6)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

bttt


47 posted on 09/12/2006 12:57:32 PM PDT by ELS (Vivat Benedictus XVI!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

"How do you negotiate with someone who's starting point is your death?" -- Rush Limbaugh
48 posted on 09/12/2006 1:00:43 PM PDT by Michael Goldsberry (Lt. Bruce C. Fryar USN 01-02-70 Laos)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: kellynla; HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity; Coleus
Excellent news.

I hope Vatican security is prepared.
49 posted on 09/12/2006 1:02:19 PM PDT by cpforlife.org (A Catholic Respect Life Curriculum is available at KnightsForLife.org)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: sageb1

Here's a slightly larger detail. The artist seems to have been one Giovanni da Modena, the painting is of the Last Judgement.

50 posted on 09/12/2006 1:03:24 PM PDT by ArrogantBustard (Western Civilisation is aborting, buggering, and contracepting itself out of existence.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 44 | View Replies]

To: ArrogantBustard; sageb1
It's a detail from a frescoe painted in some moderately obscure, but very old Catholic Church in Italy.

If it is a detail of a fresco that muslims in Italy objected to a while ago (and have threatened/attempted to vandalize), then it is in the Cathedral of Bologna. The work is based on Dante's Inferno. What the muslims apparently didn't notice is that Dante also portrayed Popes and other prominent clerics in hell. It wasn't just Mohammed.

51 posted on 09/12/2006 1:03:34 PM PDT by ELS (Vivat Benedictus XVI!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 45 | View Replies]

To: No.6
Maybe the Pope could get them to put the 'fatwah' out in Arabic first--and HOPEFULLY we could find someone to properly translate it.

Until Muslim clerics do this, do it publicly, and do it with sincerity--their words are meaningless, and they are COMPLICIT in terrorist actions--and should be judged as such.

52 posted on 09/12/2006 1:09:29 PM PDT by stockstrader
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 36 | View Replies]

To: Gamecock

53 posted on 09/12/2006 1:11:07 PM PDT by ArrogantBustard (Western Civilisation is aborting, buggering, and contracepting itself out of existence.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies]

To: pissant


BUMP!


54 posted on 09/12/2006 1:11:27 PM PDT by onyx (1 Billion Muslims -- IF only 10% are radical, that's still 100 Million who want to kill us.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: wagglebee

Maybe not list material, but great. I hope there's a link to his entire lecture down the thread, I'd like to read it.


55 posted on 09/12/2006 1:12:51 PM PDT by little jeremiah
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ArrogantBustard

Thanks for the thoughtful answer. I am Roman Catholic and understand the "problem," however right now I will content myself with being amused. :)


56 posted on 09/12/2006 1:14:13 PM PDT by sageb1 (This is the Final Crusade. There are only 2 sides. Pick one.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 45 | View Replies]

To: ArrogantBustard

Ah! I do recognize it, after all. Makes one wonder a bit about da Modena. ;)


57 posted on 09/12/2006 1:22:31 PM PDT by sageb1 (This is the Final Crusade. There are only 2 sides. Pick one.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 50 | View Replies]

To: ELS
"What the muslims apparently didn't notice is that Dante also portrayed Popes and other prominent clerics in hell."

Didn't notice or approved of and thus did not comment?

58 posted on 09/12/2006 1:24:01 PM PDT by sageb1 (This is the Final Crusade. There are only 2 sides. Pick one.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 51 | View Replies]

To: kellynla
Watching the ABS mini series on 9-11 gave me reason to pause, reflect and see a difference in how Christians perceive God, and how Muslims perceive God. Christians pray that bad events will not happen and for protection from enemies. Muslims pray that bad events befall their enemies, especially by their own hand.
59 posted on 09/12/2006 1:29:58 PM PDT by backtothestreets
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: kellynla

Someone from the EU best assign this man some extra security...what the heck am I thinking...Mr Bush, let's get some Secret Service guys over to the Vatican.


60 posted on 09/12/2006 1:34:14 PM PDT by GunnyHartman (The DNC, misunderestimating Dubya's strategery since 2000.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 121-135 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson