The Furor over what Papa Benedetto supposedly said about Islam

The last few days there has been a huge furror over what the Pope is supposed to have said when he gave his address at the University of Regensburg on Tues 12 Sept 2006. Frankly, I think the reaction of the radical Islamic groups as well as many others in the media proved 2 things, that there was a point to what was said. & that the mainstream media is mostly a bunch of hypocrites. They are criticizing the Pope for a non-attack on Islam as a whole & they condone attacks on Christianity & Catholicism by not criticising things like The DaVinci Code which is an out & out attack on the truths of Christianity.

I am not going to say a lot as so many others have said the same things I could say to expand on the above. But, I would like to point out the difference between those who speak for Christianity/Catholicism & those radicals who claim to be at the heart of Islam.

Reaction by Radical Islamists

When the cartoons printed in the Danish Newspaper came out there was rioting with damage done & death threats. Much the same as after the misquoting of the Pope. There were death threats to the Pope, riots, several Catholic Churches were attacked with fire bombs in the West Bank & Gaza & damaged. & even a possible death of a nun in Somalia. The basic message by many Islamic leaders after both events can be summarized as get revenge on those who have, in our view, have attacked Mohamed. (Note that they are decrying attacks on a human being.) There has been a call for a holy war, a jihad to wipe on all of Christianity.

Reactions by Christians/Catholics

When The DaVinci Code came out, which was an attack on God not a mere human being, did Christians riot? Did any Catholic leader call for the death of Dan Brown when the book came out? Or did any Christian leader call for the death of Ron Howard for putting out the movie? Were there any book stores or movie theaters burned down? No. What came out were plenty of well reasoned articles, books, DVDs & CDs with well reasoned responses to what was in the book. You will hear groups criticizing attacks by plays, TV Shows, cartoons, Madonna's Performance (something that was a definite blasphemy) etc. But, no violence. The total opposite of what the radical Islamist have done.

If the radical Islamists were trying to disprove the claim of violence inherent in their brand of Islam then they failed miserably. In fact they proved just the opposite. I won't even go into the idiocies of people like Rosie O'Donnell. All I will say about her comments is that when you consider her life story they make perfect sense. She is a fallen away Catholic living in a lesbian relationship. She knows that this is immoral, is sinful. She knows that what the Catholic Church & orthodox Christianity teaches about it being wrong is correct. But rather than repenting of her sin & returning to God, she lashes out at God by lashing out at His Body here on Earth, Christians.

On Sunday the Pope said the following at his Angelus address: "I wish also to add that I am deeply sorry for the reactions in some countries to a few passages of my address at the University of Regensburg." This was a follow up of a statement issued the day before by the Vatican Secretary of State. That statement was an attempt to clarify what was said by the Pope & to counteract the Radicalists' claims. Sadly the refused to listen to either, claiming it isn't enough. Personally, I don't think any apology would be enough. This is just the excuse they were looking for to justify the violence they want to do.

Fr. Jonathan on Fox's Hannity & Colmes got it right when he said that the Pope didn't apologize for what he said. He didn't need to. He said nothing wrong. These Radicals are intentionally taking it wrong. A couple of articles on the Ignatius Insight website puts what he said in proper perspective. The 1st is The Regensburg Lecture: Thinking Rightly About God and Man by Fr. James V. Schall, S.J. The 2nd is Is Dialogue with Islam Possible? Some Reflections on Pope Benedict XVI's Address at the University of Regensburg by Fr. Joseph Fessio, S.J. Both of these articles give excelent analysis of the Pope's address & what he was hoping to acomplish by his address. Fr. Schall also has an excelent commentary on what the Pope was really trying to do in that address, Ratzinger and Regensburg: On What Is a University? (links below)

I heard on 1 of the radio talk shows a comment that in this person's opinion it is only about 20% of Islam that is of this radical bent. He admitted that that was just his guess. But regardless of the actual number the point he making was true. This small group is holding the majority of Islam in a terrified silence. The good who oppose the violence are afraid of what might happen to them if they dare to speak up against the radicals. If this is true then we need to pray for the majority to find a way to silence the radicals so that instead of an all out war there can be a true dialog & better understanding. If not, then we need to pray for the truth to come out & be recognized by the world so that i can be dealt with as it should be.

In the end though, the truth is, that we need to keep proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus as Papa Benedetto said during the Israeli-Hezbollah war. Without Jesus, true peace will never be achieved.

Papa Benedetto's Speech at the University of Regensburg

Pope's Angelus comments:
http://www.zenit.org/english/visualizza.phtml?sid=94990

Vatican statement on this put out by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican Secretary of State:
http://www.zenit.org/english/visualizza.phtml?sid=94991

Fr. Jonathan Morris (Fox News):
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,214338,00.html

The Regensburg Lecture articles:
http://www.ignatiusinsight.com/features2006/schall_regensburg_sept06.asp

http://www.ignatiusinsight.com/features2006/schall_onuniversity_sept06.asp

Is Dialogue with Islam Possible?:
http://www.ignatiusinsight.com/features2006/jfessio_reflections_sept06.asp