On tolerance
I'd like to go into a long discourse about the comments recently made by Pope Benedict XVI regarding Islam, but I'm kinda tired. Still, after going over his actual comments, which happen to come from an intellectual presentation to a collection of academic leaders in Germany, it's hard to find much wrong with what he said.
The phrase that has most in the Middle East and Islamic world upset is one that calls some of the ideas espoused by the prophet Mohammed 'evil' and 'inhuman' ... but it's important to understand those comments stem from the work of a theologian and historian from the 1300s. All the Pope was merely doing was referencing a historian to begin an honest and academic discussion, one in which he never endorsed those comments.
So, to me, it seems pretty ignorant and, quite frankly, stupid for militant Islamic leaders to call for all-out war against Christianity over the comments of a man who has been dead more than 700 years. Still, radical Islamic terrorists, like those in al-Qaida, endorse, you know, strapping explosives on 14-year-old boys and sending them into shopping malls, so we're not exactly dealing with rational individuals here.
Why should the Pope apologize? If we're going to limit academic dialogue, particularly in matters of religion and faith, to only that which doesn't offend, than what's the purpose of having a liberal society in which we can debate issues and beliefs. Disagreement isn't necessarily a bad thing, and it often leads to a greater understanding and appreciation of the very thing you're disagreeing over.
Disagreement doesn't mean you up and vow to kill anyone who doesn't think like you.
The phrase that has most in the Middle East and Islamic world upset is one that calls some of the ideas espoused by the prophet Mohammed 'evil' and 'inhuman' ... but it's important to understand those comments stem from the work of a theologian and historian from the 1300s. All the Pope was merely doing was referencing a historian to begin an honest and academic discussion, one in which he never endorsed those comments.
So, to me, it seems pretty ignorant and, quite frankly, stupid for militant Islamic leaders to call for all-out war against Christianity over the comments of a man who has been dead more than 700 years. Still, radical Islamic terrorists, like those in al-Qaida, endorse, you know, strapping explosives on 14-year-old boys and sending them into shopping malls, so we're not exactly dealing with rational individuals here.
Why should the Pope apologize? If we're going to limit academic dialogue, particularly in matters of religion and faith, to only that which doesn't offend, than what's the purpose of having a liberal society in which we can debate issues and beliefs. Disagreement isn't necessarily a bad thing, and it often leads to a greater understanding and appreciation of the very thing you're disagreeing over.
Disagreement doesn't mean you up and vow to kill anyone who doesn't think like you.
posted by Jmac at 10:06 PM
2 Comments:
Good post, JMac. There's also the much-pointed-out oddity of Muslims getting so mad that the pope called them violent that they...burn him in effagy and threaten his life. Somewhere along the way, we've got a disconnect, I think.
1. Crazy-ass Muslim leaders will call for the conquering of Christianity every time Coke comes out with a new flavor.
2. All the Pope was merely doing was referencing a historian to begin an honest and academic discussion, one in which he never endorsed those comments.
However. You think the pope doesn't know what he's doing? He's a very smart dude. And much of his speech involves a call for rationality (a more intellectual theology, perhaps, without going so far as stem-cell research) that aligns itself relatively strongly with what that 14th-century guy was saying.
I'm not saying I don't agree with your point entirely. I'm a free speech radical, dude. You know that. But that includes the crazy religious people. And it includes looking at the motives for what people say.
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