Boldness from Vatican City
In a lecture at the Aula Magna of the University of Regensburg, Germany, Pope Benedict XVI quoted Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologus from a conversation in the 1300’s as saying,
Show me just what Mohammed 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.
I am no Roman Catholic, nor do I hold the Pope or the Roman Catholic Church to be infallible or the final say on any matter, necessarily. But I have to admire the willingness to stand up and boldly, without hatred or malice, speak his belief in such a time as our world is currently in. It is not acceptable, in most of our world’s social climate, to speak directly against a particular religion or its figure heads. It is especially unacceptable to target Islam. On one hand you have the far right conservative Muslims who want to cut your head off for speaking so, on the other you have a society who thinks that to publicly disagree with another’s belief is an act of bigotry or ‘close mindedness’.
So let me be clear: I do not hate Muslims. I am a terrible sinner, deserving the wrath of my God. I try to maintain the perspective that I am the ‘least of these’ in relation to the other people in the world–my ‘neighbors’. But I applaud the Pope for standing by his convictions, for teaching those convictions to his church, for doing so without inciting hatred or ill will towards the people of Islam, and for the glaring truth in the statement I quoted above.
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September 15th, 2006 @ 3:39 pm
I had the privilege while working at the Pentagon with a retired Air Force Chief Master Sergeant who was also Muslim. He was a brilliant, thoughtful, even kind man who seemed to deeply love his wife and two young children. We often spoke of societal decay and the many factors in our secular culture that make raising a family with solid values a real challenge. Although our theology was very different, our mutual love for serving America made us collegues and even friends. He was cut from a far different cloth than those radical Muslims who would deny our freedom and destroy us. There is a depth of evil in this current crop of murderers that has surfaced periodically throughout world history. Several decades ago that evil animated a short Germany fanatic and an egocentric Italian dictator. Now it inhabits middle-eastern men of Muslim faith. This evil may change “bodies” but it can be defeated. See Mark 5:1-18.
September 22nd, 2006 @ 3:04 pm
Very nicely said, Jim.
January 10th, 2007 @ 6:04 am
You said: “for the glaring truth in the statement I quoted above”…
Personally, I agree with your idea of Islam. But I have to ask you a few technical questions. What is that “glaring truth”? What do you know about Islam? Can you tell me at least two quotes from Mohammed? Can you tell me at least two key points from his biography? Can you tell me at least two things which Mohammed brought to the world and that are obviously evil and inhuman? Do you know any mayor religion in the world that is founded on evil and inhuman premises? Can you give me at least one source, one book or one Mohammed’s quote where it is visible that Mohammed commanded to his followers to spread the faith by the sword? Did you ever hear that Islam too has Ten Commandments which happened to be almost the same as those of Christianity and Judaism? Yes, that is true: a lot of Muslims are bad! As Hitler! As Timothy McVeigh. As Terry Nichols. As Theodore Kaczynski! What Christianity has brought to the world with these great names? Tamil Tigers who started the concept of modern day suicide bombings, they are Hindus. IRA in Spain, Roman Catholics. Kahane Chai - terrible Jewish terrorists. Basque Separatists in Spain. FARCs in Columbia… The Jews who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, who persecuted us; they please not God, and are contrary to all men. — Bible; 1Thes 2:15, King James, The Jews
Yet, we pick Arabs!? In a notion that they are inferior to us!? Look out Mr. Auldridge - it is a first step into a racism! I have a lot of Arabian friends; they are smart and good. Some of them are idiots. I have lots of American friends, guess what: some of them are idiots!? All people live to be good, most of them fail! It is probably a Devil’s business or whatever but not a race or religion. You are right, if you like it: Mohammed is fallen prophet! But, get the facts, Mr. Auldridge, get the facts! For Christ sake!
January 10th, 2007 @ 9:40 am
staima novo, you make some very good points. My post is unbalanced in the presenting of evil in the world. While I could have worded it better, I stayed focused on Islam because that is what the original quote was in reference to. And, to be honest, because the radicals of Islam are those with whom we (the United States) currently have the greatest issue.
Indeed, I am standing on the threshold of racism with that mindset and need to step back some.
I do believe that most religions, including Christianity, have people of peace as well as radical people of hate operating under the guise of the religion. I do not want to fall into the latter of that group and thank you for pointing out how precarious my previously stated position sounded.
Jim
January 10th, 2007 @ 2:04 pm
Well! I see. You like this country very much. But, don’t worry! This country is able to deal with bad guys, even they happen to be Arabs… or Pope himself!
“The ink of the scholar is more holy than the blood of the martyr” — Mohammed
That is Mohammed’s quote that speaks a loads of 9/11 and radicalism in Islam… However, more love means less hate; less hate give us more power to avoid “being used”…
January 11th, 2007 @ 11:05 am
I wouldn’t like to be a grouch and break your Comments for this article (even though I already did), but let me make one point more, please: people often use an empty fraise: “Radicals of Islam”, me too, because it was carefully brainwashed into our thesaurus by American Media held by Jew Rupert Murdoch. You can hear on TV many stories about “Radicals of Islam”, you can hear some stories about “Radicals of Christianity”, but you will never hear a story about “Radicals of Judaism” - no!, they call them “Orthodox”. Settle, settle! God forbid FOX-News say something bad about Great Nation of Israel!
You can accuse me of being an islamophil but you can not say I am wrong. As Winston Churchill said: The truth is incontrovertible; malice may attack it; ignorance may deride it; but in the end there it is. Radicals, killers, criminals and happy others, they are just human scam! We can not relocate them to Islam, just because they claim so! Radicals belongs to Evil! (as Bush would like to say). Some of them belong to Arabs by their origin. Some of them are White, some are American Born… Islam is religion. Islam has followers. “Radicals of Islam” is just classification made for statistical research. There is no support for such a theory in the Islamic Holy Book. Nor in the Bible! If Hitler says he is a Jew that does not mean we should burn the Talmud. Radicals belong to jail. Not to Islam! Not to Christianity! There is no such a thing as “Radicals of Islam”.