Appeasement will never work with people who are on a mission from Allah.
Posted on 09/15/2006 2:33:34 PM PDT by Southside_Chicago_Republican
Pope Benedict XVI's comments on religious radicalism are another sign of his intention to bring his voice into one of the world's most critical showdowns: Islam's internal struggles between moderates and extremists.
The remarks — tucked into an address at a German university where he formerly taught theology — were interpreted by many experts in interfaith relations as a signal that the Vatican is staking a new and more demanding stance for its dealings with the Muslim world.
Benedict, they say, appears to increasingly view the West's confrontation with radical Islam as a fateful moment in history that demands the Vatican's moral authority — just as his predecessor, John Paul II, reshaped the dimensions of the papacy by openly taking sides in the Cold War.
The risk for the Vatican is whether it will be perceived in the Muslim world as part of a broader Western cultural and political campaign against Islam.
"We have seen a hard line from this pope," said Ali El-Samman, president of the interfaith committee for Egypt's High Islamic Council. "It's a disappointment for many Muslims. But just because we are disappointed in a pope doesn't mean we are against all Christians."
The Vatican said Benedict did not intend the remarks to be offensive and sought to draw attention to the incompatibility of faith and violence.
The pope quoted from a book recounting a conversation between 14th-century Byzantine Christian Emperor Manuel Paleologos II and a Persian scholar on the truths of Christianity and Islam.
"The emperor comes to speak about the issue of jihad, holy war," the pope said. "He said, I quote, 'Show me just what Muhammad 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.'"
Benedict, who is supposed to visit Turkey this fall in his first trip to a Muslim nation, did not explicitly agree with the words nor did he repudiate them.
In the backlash, some of the more subtle — yet potentially far-reaching — references have been overshadowed.
The speech suggested deep dismay over the current conditions of Christians in the Middle East and the rest of the Muslim world, said John Voll, director of the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University in Washington.
"This reflects the intention of Pope Benedict to distinguish himself from his predecessor on his approach to interfaith dialogue," said Voll. "And by this, it means more reciprocity."
Voll said the pope may increasingly instruct Vatican envoys to stress issues of forced conversions of Christians and limits on Christian rights and worship.
"It's the next step after John Paul began opening doors" with historic pilgrimages to Muslim nations, including a visit to a Syrian mosque in 2001, Voll said.
As John Paul's chief watchdog on Roman Catholic doctrine, Benedict — then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger — had little role in shaping the Vatican's contact with Islam and other faiths.
Some experts say Benedict's theological scholarship gives him an affinity for Orthodox churches and Judaism because of many shared traditions and holy texts, but leaves him less equipped to deal with Islam at a time when suspicions dominate relations between the West and Muslim world.
The speech, some say, shows the pontiff intends to carry on with his strong defense of the values of the Christian West rather than compromise for the sake of building bonds with Islam.
"They went to the speech expecting to meet Pope Benedict, but instead they met Professor Ratzinger," said the Rev. Khalil Samir, a Vatican envoy for interfaith links in Lebanon.
In July 2005, about two months after assuming the papacy, Benedict was asked if he considered Islam a religion of peace. He said: "Certainly there are elements that favor peace. It also has other elements."
The Rev. Robert Taft, a specialist in Islamic affairs at Rome's Pontifical Oriental Institute, said it was unlikely the pope miscalculated how some Muslims would receive his speech.
"The message he is sending is very, very clear," Taft said. "Violence in the name of faith is never acceptable in any religion and that (the pope) considers it his duty to challenge Islam and anyone else on this."
"to bring his voice into one of the world's most critical showdowns: Islam's internal struggles between moderates and extremists."
Can you please tell me where this internal struggle is going on, because I have not seen it?
I have seen every form of Muslim, from so-called moderate to the most radical, repeat the exact same morally relative excuses for every from of Muslim terrorism, Muslim xenophobia, Muslim violence, Muslim religious intolerance across the world.
If there are any real moderates they are cowed into silence in even the most "moderate" Muslim society.
When the Muslims in every Muslim society are out in the streets protesting againt Muslim terrorism in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, Kashmir, the Philippines and every where else, then maybe we can say there Muslim moderates. They do not even march against terrorism here, in the USA where they have so much freedom.
My favorite....GODS' Rottweiler! Go Pope!!!!
I'd really like to think it wouldn't have to take the assasination of a 79-year-old pope to wake the world up to Islam's true intentions.
Still, I'm probably being naive.
My gut tells me Benedict XVI might be on his way to martyrdom - the REAL kind of Martyrdom - where one ultimately pays for one's life for the truth of the gospel.
Not the kind brought about by running into a crowded shopping center with an IED strapped to your chest.
What is a "legal diverse"? Is that one of those no-fault divorces?
in June of 1979, ... The pope spoke of Poland's Christian roots and the transience of the communist regime. His words were a direct challenge to the communist leaders that ruled Poland and surrounding countries with an iron fist that suppressed religion and freedom of speech.
Yep.
Let's see it was Reagan /Pope John Paul II against the commies
Maybe Bush/the new Pope against the muslims
I'm not so sure they'd be in a hurry to do that in the West, not yet anyway. They do remember the Crusades and subsequent battles against the Catholics, most of which they lost, which further explains their ongoing infantile behavior driven by shame, loss of face and general backwardness combined with self hate. But hey, we all know that, huh?
Isn't Mehmet Ali Agca still running around free somewhere in Turkey?
Me too. If no one can be critical of Islam without causing riots in the streets that is suppression of free speech. Muslims are going to have to get used to Islam being criticized and held up to scrutiny. Every other religion gets the same critical treatment. Why not Islam? Down with Muslim privilege!
I totally agree.
Amen. I for one will never back down from the argument that until they prove me different this religion is evil. And I don't care what they think. I am tired and will not shut my mouth again.
As far as I am concerned it is as President Bush said, If you harbor a terrorist you are as much to blame as being the actual terrorist. So I can also say, if you are a Muslim believer and you stand by silent watching other believers committing the atrocities that they commit than you are no better than they are.
Being angry at constructive criticism, or honest discussions about their religion which point out it's weakness and propensity to violence is quite another.
Hope you're right. And we sure do know all too well "their ongoing infantile behavior driven by shame, loss of face and general backwardness combined with self hate." Well put, for starters.
That's mostly the writer's interpretation of the situation. I think are there, but I think they are few and far between, and their voice ineffectual, drowned out by the fanatics. I guess if the Pope, or our political leaders, believe there are viable moderates in the Muslim world, it might be in the hope that there is a last-ditch effort to avoid what has to be considered a potentetially horrific conflict.
I am not a Catholic, but I keep Pope Benedict in my prayers, that God will help him, guide him and give him the strenghth he needs to bear the great burden that has been put on his shoulders.
"just as his predecessor, John Paul II, reshaped the dimensions of the papacy by openly taking sides in the Cold War. "
I think you miss read this line. He is refereing to John Paul and his taking up the fight for Polish freedom from the commies
"
It will come as a huge surprise that many people everywhere are not aware of nor care about what ever the Pope chooses to busy himself with at the moment.
It is irrelelevant.
Appeasement will never work with people who are on a mission from Allah.
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