Posted by
on Monday, September 18, 2006 6:07:19 PM
Maybe Newsweek should spend its time trying to explain exactly why
Muslims have reacted to the Pope's statement with violence, rather than
speculate on why Pope Benedict said what he did.
“'He is going down in history in the same category as leaders such as
Hitler and Mussolini,' said Salih Kapusuz, the deputy head of Turkey’s
governing party."
Wow. That was... well thought. And why would he say something like that? Maybe because he's rash... I dunno.
"If the goal, in Federico Lombardi’s (papal spokesman) words,
had been to articulate 'a clear and radical rejection of the religious
motivation for violence,' then Benedict failed."
"For the pope, the Christian encounter with the classical world married
faith and reason and thereby precluded, in principle, such
misunderstandings of the nature of the God of Abraham, a nature that
is, according to this argument, rooted in love and reason, not the will
to dominance. Seen in such a light, “jihad,” which means “struggle,”
can too easily be taken literally (as a call to violence against
others) rather than figuratively (as many Muslim scholars argue it
should be)."
"Can too easily be taken literally"... isn't that how one is supposed
to take words (unless they're drenched in sarcasm)? And what does it
look like to take the word "jihad" figuratively?
"And by speaking of jihad without alluding to Christianity’s dark
history of violence in the name of God—the Crusades, forced
conversions, pogroms, the Inquisition—Benedict seemed to be denouncing
Islam while failing to acknowledge that any religion, including his
own, can be manipulated and perverted to evil ends."
Yes, we've had some dark periods of foolish actions and abuse in the
name of God. But I recall the Muslims, on their own initiative,
conquering parts of Europe (Spain, anyone?) and the Middle East long
before the Crusades.
The author of this piece in Newsweek (which, in my opinion, has become
more of a tabloid than commentaries on current social and political
issues) does redeem himself a little bit by writing this in his second
to last paragraph:
"Is the ideology of hate that fuels Al Qaeda and its fellow travelers
evil? Yes, it is, and too few Muslim leaders have spoken out against it
in compelling and memorable terms. An Islamic reformation in which the
young are educated to understand faith through critical thinking would,
one hopes, push the forces of violence ever farther to the margins."
Enlightenment works wonders. So does a solid education.
You can read the whole article by Jon Meachem
here.