Globe Columnist: How Dare Pope Think Catholicism Superior!

Boston Globe/NewsBusters ^ | Mark Finkelstein

[governsleastgovernsbest]

by Mark Finkelstein

September 25, 2006 - 07:01

If there's one person whose essence, whose very being, whose every fiber stands for the proposition that the Roman Catholic church is the one true religion, it is the Pope. The Church does define him as the Vicar of Christ, after all.

So you might forgive the Pope for advocating the notion that his religion is superior. But somehow that notion deeply offends Boston Globe columnist James Carroll. In his column of today, Pope Benedict's hierarchy of truth, faith, Carroll takes the Pope to task for asserting the superiority of his faith. Referencing the Pope's recent address that has caused a stir, Carroll writes:

"tThe pope's lecture reveals a deeper and insulting problem. Benedict properly affirms the rationality of faith, and the corollary that faith should be spread by reasoned argument and not by violent coercion. But he does so as a way of positing Christian superiority to other faiths."

Well, yeah. That is the Pope's job description, after all.

And later: "Benedict is defending a hierarchy of truth. Faith is superior to reason. Christian faith is superior to other faiths (especially Islam). Roman Catholicism is superior to other Christian faiths. And the pope is supreme among Catholics. He does not mean to insult when he defends this schema, yet seems ignorant of how inevitably insulting it is. Nor does the pope understand that, today, such narcissism of power comes attached to a fuse."

Carroll reveals a profound ignorance, perhaps grounded in hostility, about religion. If religion is just a quaint cultural relic, well then, there's no point in getting worked up over the supposed superiority of one's religion, or "faith tradition" as Al Gore so delicately preferred it in the 2000 campaign. Many pathways to God, let's all hold hands, sing Kumbaya and see you at the anti-war march next week. But what if you believe that your religion is not merely superior, but the one way in which man can achieve salvation and avoid eternal damnation? You might just be a tad more assertive in proclaiming that fact.

Carrroll clearly can't contemplate someone so old-fashioned as to believe that. His failure exemplifies MSM attitudes toward religion and faith.

[Dark Skies]

Nor does the pope understand that, today, such narcissism of power comes attached to a fuse."

One expects the CEO of a company to say his company is best. Same for the leaders of most organizations.

Civilized people of different organizations and faiths "agree to disagree respectfully."

The problem with such narcissism of power really comes down to the adherents of just one faith, who press their point with violence and murder.

[tsmith130]

You have a keen insight into your audience :0)

Apparently, GLGB was spot on as post #6 demonstrates.

[LibLieSlayer]

"Globe Columnist: How Dare Pope Think Catholicism Superior!"

Well let's see... Christianity worships the ONE true GOD and his only begotten son Jesus, while islam worships satan and his anti-christ son mohamed. If you are a satanist, this statement might be true (from their perspective). Therefore I have resolved that the "Globe Columnist" is a satanist.

LLS

[governsleastgovernsbest]

I'd be grateful to anyone who could ping this to FR Catholic/Christianity ping lists.

[Diogenesis]

===== MURDERS, ATROCITIES, RAPES, BEHEADINGS,
===== AND TERROR FROM THE "JOY OF MURDER" (a.k.a. Quran)
====== FULLY SUPPORTED AND FUNDED BY The BOSTON GLOBE
======= and ITS WRITERS LIKE CARROLL, WHO REGARD THE TERRORISTS AS "SUPERIOR" ====

== ISLAMIC TERROR DONE WITHOUT APOLOGY, HELPED BY THE BOSTON GLOBE #1 ================

Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay attacked by Islamic terrorists.

---

== ISLAMIC TERROR DONE WITHOUT APOLOGY, HELPED BY THE BOSTON GLOBE #2 ================

London attacked by Islamic terrorists.

---

== ISLAMIC TERROR DONE WITHOUT APOLOGY, HELPED BY THE BOSTON GLOBE #3 ================

Madrid attacked by Islamic terrorists.

---

== ISLAMIC TERROR DONE WITHOUT APOLOGY, HELPED BY THE BOSTON GLOBE #4 ================

AMERICANS MURDERED ON A BRIDGE IN FALLUJA BY ISLAMIC SUBHUMAN TERRORISTS

---

The War for Infinite Justice MUST BE ESCALATED

== ISLAMIC TERROR DONE WITHOUT APOLOGY, HELPED BY THE BOSTON GLOBE #5 ================

TORTURE OF AMERICANS BY ISLAMIC SUBHUMAN TERRORISTS.

---

The War for Infinite Justice MUST BE ESCALATED

== ISLAMIC TERROR DONE WITHOUT APOLOGY, HELPED BY THE BOSTON GLOBE #6 ================

VERY PARTIAL LIST OF ISLAMIC TERRORIST ACTIVITIES
Full list is pages and pages and pages and pages.

1968 Robert Kennedy assassinated
1972 Munich Olympics Sep-5,1972 (Black September)
1976 Entebbe Hostage Crisis, June 27, 1976
1979 Iran Hostage Crisis, Nov. 4, 1979 444 days
1979 Grand Mosque Seizure, Nov 20,1979
1981 Assassination of Egyptian President, Oct 6,1981
1982 Assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister, Sept 14, 1982
1983 Bombing of US Embassy in Beirut6, April 18,1983
1983 Bombing of Maring Barricks, Beruit, Oct 23,1983
1984 Hizballah Restaurant Bombing, April 12,1984
1985 Egyptian Airliner Hijacking, Nov 23,1985
1985 Rome Airport murders
1985 TWA Flight 847 hijacked, U.S. Navy diver murdered
1985 Achille Lauro hijacking, Homacidal maniac lived in saddams Iraq
1986 Aircraft Bombing in Greece, March 30, 1986
1988 Pan Am 747 Flight 103 Bombing, Lockerbie, 100's murdered
1988 Berlin Discoteque Bombing, Dec 21,1988
1992 Bombing in Israeli Embassy in Argentina, March 17,1992
1993 Attempted Assassination of Pres. Bush Sr., April 14,1993
1993 First World Trade Center bombing, February 26th, 7 Killed, Hundreds injured, Billions
1994 Air France Hijacking, Dec 24,1994
1995 Attack on US Diplomats in Pakistan, Mar 8,1995
1995 Military Installation Attack, Nov 13, 1995
1995 Kashmiri Hostage taking, July 4,1995
1996 Khobar Towers attack
1996 Sudanese Missionarys Kidnapping, Aug 17,1996
1996 Paris Subway Explosion, Dec 3,1996
1997 Israeli Shopping Mall Bombing, Sept 4, 1997
1997 Yemeni Kidnappings, Oct 30,1997
1998 Somali Hostage taking crisis, April 15,1998
1998 U.S. Embassy Bombing in Peru, Jan 15, 1998
1998 U.S. Kenya Embassy blown up, 100's murdered
1998 U.S. Tanzania Embassy blown up, 100's murdered
1999 Plot to blow up Space Needle (thwarted)
2000 USS Cole attacked, many U.S. Navy sailors murdered
2000-2003 Intifada against Israel - 100's dead and injured
2000 Manila Bombing, Dec 30,2000
2001 4 Commercial airliners hijacked, 250+ murdered
2001 World Trade Center attacked, 2800+ murdered
2001 Flight 93 murders
2001 Pentagon attacked, 180+ murdered
2002 Reporter Daniel Pearl, kidnapped and murdered
2002 Philippines American missionary, Filipino nurse killed
2002 July 4, El Al attack Los Angeles LAX, several murdered
2002 Bali bombing - 200 dead, 300 injured
2002 Yemen, French Oil Tanker attacked
2002 Marines attacked / murdered in Kuwait
2002 Washington D.C. sniper
2002 Russian Theater attacked, 100+ dead
2002 Nigerian riots against Miss World Pageant, 200 dead, dozens injured
2002 Mombasa Hotel Attacked, 12 dead, dozens injured
2002 Israeli Boeing 757 attacked by missiles, fortunately no one injured
2002 August Hotel bombing in Jakarta, Indonesia. 12 dead, dozens injured.
2003 Rusian concert bombing
2003 Phillipines airport and market bombing
2003 Foiled SAM plot in the USA
2003 UN Baghdad HQ Bombing
on and on and on and on their terrorism has gone .........

---

The War for Infinite Justice MUST BE ESCALATED

== ISLAMIC TERROR DONE WITHOUT APOLOGY, HELPED BY THE BOSTON GLOBE #7 ================

Islamic Terrorists (mainly from Saudi Arabia and Pakistan) attack America
murdering 3000 Americans per hour [pictures censored by the MSM]

The War for Infinite Justice SHOULD HAVE BEEN ESCALATED IN 2001

---

== ISLAMIC TERROR DONE WITHOUT APOLOGY, HELPED BY THE BOSTON GLOBE #8 ================

Russia, at Beslan, with children murdered by Islamic terrorists.

---

== ISLAMIC TERROR DONE WITHOUT APOLOGY, HELPED BY THE BOSTON GLOBE #9 ================

=========== Documents linking Atta, Saddam, Nidal, bin Ladin ===========

Handwritten letter dated Feb. 19, 1998 linking bin Laden and Saddam Hussein
discussing arrival of a secret envoy sent by bin Laden to Iraq.
The signature beneath the letter is a codename, "MDA" - the Mukhabarat.

---

== ISLAMIC TERROR DONE WITHOUT APOLOGY, HELPED BY THE BOSTON GLOBE #10================

=========== Nick Berg beheaded and retrieved from bridge =========

Paul Johnson beheaded

Americans beheaded

---

== ISLAMIC TERROR PROMISED TO COME, WITHOUT APOLOGY, HELPED BY THE BOSTON GLOBE #11 ================

=========== Islamic terrorists promising to conquer America prior to murdering all Christians and Jews therein.

"Islam isn't in America to be equal to any other faith,
but to become dominant. The Qur'an should be the highest authority in America,
and Islam the only accepted religion on earth"

--Omar Ahmed, Chairman of the Board of CAIR (Council of American Islamic Relations), San Ramon Valley Herald, July 1998

---

== ISLAMIC TERROR WITHOUT APOLOGY, HELPED BY THE BOSTON GLOBE #12 FROM THE SOURCEBOOK ================

from "The Joy of Killing": Qur’an 8:12 “I shall terrorize the infidels.
So wound their bodies and incapacitate them
because they oppose Allah and His Apostle.”

from "The Joy of Killing": Qur’an 8:57 “If you gain mastery over them in battle,
inflict such a defeat as would terrorize them,
so that they would learn a lesson and be warned.”

[livius]

Good piece. One of the reasons Islam has made so many advances is that many non-Muslims are like Carroll: they really don't think their religion is very important, has anything special to say, or, in fact, is worth believing or practicing. They just shrug and say, oh, ok, it's a cultural thing and it's all the same to me.

But they're seriously in denial, because they think that Muslims have the same attitude to their own religion (that is, they don't believe it), and therefore the fact that it is undeniably a violent, aggressive, oppressive cult that has assaulted the world time and again can be ignored. Carroll and his ilk think everybody can just sort of hang out together and agree not to believe their respective culturally-determined religions. It's going to be a big surprise to Carroll when he's in the mosque making his Islamic profession at gun-point.

[governsleastgovernsbest]

Ping.

[governsleastgovernsbest]

ping

[ClaireSolt]

Catholicism is a power base in Boston, and the Globe seems committed to levelling that. They are the ones who conflated 25 years of pedophilia into a scandal that rocked the church. so, I am not surprised by this. It is just what every city needs, a hometown paper antagonistic to the folks.

[syriacus]

Carroll, about the Pope: "But he does so as a way of positing Christian superiority to other faiths."

Even in ordinary life, some routes are superior.
Six families go on vacation, heading toward an Inn at the top of a mountain.
They come to a spot where the road branches off in many directions. One of the drivers looks at the travel directions and decides to follow the route that the owner emailed them. He suggests the other drivers follow the same route, and one other driver agrees. The rest go off in different directions.
The two families that take the suggested route arrive at their destination safely.

Two other families get to the top of the mountain after following winding, dangerous routes. One family turns around, drives back to the point where they took a wrong turn, and then takes the suggested route. One family never makes it to the summit.

If the Pope believes he knows the safest route to heaven, charity demands that he point it out.

[governsleastgovernsbest]

If the Pope believes he knows the safest route to heaven, charity demands that he point it out.

Exactly. That's why I am not offended by the evangelical efforts of Christians to convert Jews like me.

[chatham]

Why would anyone belong to Catholicism if they didn't think it was the One True Religion.

Great article.

Carrol is a loser.

[governsleastgovernsbest]

Thanks, chatham. It's really hard to grasp Carroll's logic - unless he thinks all religions are just a joke, even to their adherents.

[demkicker]

[ArGee]

Roman Catholicism is superior to other Christian faiths.

The correct statement would be, "Roman Catholicism is superior to other expressions of the Christian faith."

There are some differences between the Christian denominations, and we like to think these are important, but they are minor details compared to the differences between Christianity and other religions.

Shalom.

[ArGee]

Why would anyone belong to a religion he believes is only partially true?

Bingo, but you believe that religion is an expression of reality. To most of today's dim-witted believers, religion is a way of dealing with reality. Even many so-called Christians seem to think that Jesus is an important part of any good self-help program.

Shalom.

[ArGee]

Ah, James Carroll again -- how can we miss him if he won't go away?

Insufficient target practice?

Shalom.

[ArGee]

Wow! You've moved up to posting without reading the post!

You silly FReeper. Laz posts without reading what he writes.

Shalom.

[ArGee]

Exactly. That's why I am not offended by the evangelical efforts of Christians to convert Jews like me.

I'm with you (although I'm a Christian). If someone tries to convert me to a religion that is designed to bring me to G-d, it's a sign of love.

If someone tries to convert me to a religion that is designed to subjugate me to their leaders, it's an assault and will be responded to in kind.

Shalom.