[Stirner]

This speech occasioned furious denunciations from some Muslim clerics because of a 700 year old quote from a Byzantine Emperor. Benedict XVI’s point was not to slam Islam, but to raise the question of whether there were any limits, set by independent principles of reason, on what religion could require. He could (and maybe should) have used examples of forced conversions under supposedly Christian auspices, but instead took as his starting point a tension in the Koran between “there is no compulsion in religion” and an obligation to “spread Islam by the sword if necessary” and continued from there to the question of the relations between religion, reason, and empirical/mathematical science. For me,as a non-believer, his most shocking claim is that attempts to base morality on such things as evolution or other natural facts about human nature simply result in something inadequate. In other words, you can’t get there from here using that method. his view is that Naturalism is hopeless. I respect his learning and acknowledge that he very well may be right, but I haven't given up on naturalized morality yet.

[Xth Legion]

Yes, the main reason of the speech was a reconciliation of how one believes and its history in the church. There is a reason while we call it "Faith" and science does not need to enter the picture.

However, what is most telling is HIS use of the example of Islam. This is no mistake. This pope clearly wants to point out to his audience in a quick comment why these folks are dangerous. For Christianity to survive it needs to open it's eyes. As Hillaire Belloc pointed out in the early 20th century Islam is one of the great heresies and took some of the easy parts of Christianity along with developing some of its own dangerous ideologies.

[trisham]

For me,as a non-believer, his most shocking claim is that attempts to base morality on such things as evolution or other natural facts about human nature simply result in something inadequate. In other words, you can’t get there from here using that method. his view is that Naturalism is hopeless. I respect his learning and acknowledge that he very well may be right, but I haven't given up on naturalized morality yet.

************

For me, that is a compelling part of his speech, but then I am a Catholic and believe that all morality derives from God.