In a speech earlier this week, Pope Benedict XVI quoted a speech from a 14th century Byzantine Emperor, “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.” This quotation, not surprisingly, filled much of the Muslim world with anger.
The irony here is that the point of the Pope’s speech was about the incompatibility between violence and true religious belief. In the same speech he later said, "Violence is incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul.” This was a very true point and the message was one that we should expect from the Holy Father, leader of over 1 Billion Catholic Christians.
I am very upset with this incident. For one, the Pope’s message of peace and understanding was misconstrued and taken out of its full context. In fact, several churches in the Middle East were attacked after the media reported on the Pope’s speech. This can not help the poor image of Islam held in the west. Rather unfairly, I might add, as once again the actions of a few extremists make a bad name for the majority of peaceful Muslims. So the Pope was horribly misinterpreted. At the same time, I am not happy at all with the Bishop of Rome. Why in the world did he choose to quote from such a text? Why did he not then pronounce such words as misguided? It seems to me as if he was actually taunting the Muslim world. “Prove that you have a religion of peace!” He seemed to say while goading them with the words of a long-dead Byzantine Emperor. Why this approach? Some say that he is more “hawkish” than his predecessor, Pope John Paul II. I thought that the symbol of the Holy Spirit was a dove. (As is the symbol of peace.) I humbly suggest that the Holy See use a bit more tact and think about the future impact of “hawkish” language in the future.
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About Me
- Matt
- Lima, Ohio, United States
- I was born and raised in Ohio. I am a lifelong Catholic Christian who has always been interested in the big questions of life. I have a passion for learning especially Philosophy, Science, Religion, History and Culture. I graduated from the University of Toledo in 2001 with a B.A. in International Relations. I married my soul-mate, Jen in 2001 and we moved to rural Tanigumi-mura Japan where we taught English for 3 years. We moved to California and lived in San Francisco and the Bay Area for 4 years. Tired of sitting on the sidelines, I began volunteering for the Barack Obama campaign in March of 2007 and was eventually hired as a Field Organizer. Through the Obama campaign, I found my calling and moved back to Ohio to continue organizing. In 2009 I helped the field operations of the Keith Wilkowski for Mayor of Toledo race. After that, I was hired as a Regional Field Director for 15 northwestern and north central Ohio counties for the 2010 Democratic Coordinated Campaign. Jen and I are continuing to volunteer as we wait for the next organizing opportunity to present itself.
5 comments:
It's almost as if the Muslims then went out and proved the dead Byzantine Emporer right!
The German Shepherd does need to watch what he says better, but there is no doubt a serious problem with the Islamic community when their followers act like this and we in the western world don't hear a peep from the world's imans condemning their behavior. Either the media isn't carrying that side of the story or they haven't condeomned it...
I do try to keep things in perspective.
There are close to 1 Billion Muslims. There are bound to be a few extremists. The real fact is that the attacks on the churches were done by a handful of the extremeists.
Still - there was quite a bit of condemnation of the Pope's quoted remarks, but I haven't heard much against the attacks...
Yes the extremists in thier anger are trying to make the case of the dead emperor...
...terrible all around.
The pope should have known better. Remarks are constantly being taken out of context. He must have the cousins of the guys who surround and advice Bush.
I have heard that the Vatican's top offical for dealing with Mulsims had recently been reassigned and no one was taking his placherefore no one looked over the Pope's speech. Still, what was he thinking?
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