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September 16, 2006

Are Some Muslims 'Offended by an Inconvenient Truth' ?

... Benedict would emphasize that the Islamic understanding of God is radically different from that of Christians. (Source)

Right Linx makes the point that Muslims consider themselves to be following a "religion of peace," and that although the vast majority of Muslims are indeed peaceful, so are the Judeo-Christian religions from which Islam was derived. The concept of "a philosophy of "peace" was borrowed by Islam, but what Pope Benedict was speaking of in referring to the remarkds of the erudite Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologus is what Mohammed brought that was new. And that is the concept of proselytizing by the sword, as Mohammed himself did to spread the Islamic religion like a raging fire 1400 years ago. This stands in great contrast to the peace of Christ, who condemned such violence.

Read the rest of what Right Linx has to say, here.

Let's recall once again for clarity, that the title of the Pope's speech at The University of Regensburg was "Faith, Reason and the University Memories and Reflections," and that it was delivered to an academic audience in a setting where the Pope had spoken before as a professor - it was meant for those who are likely to understand his message in those three short sentences out of 42 paragraphs that some Muslims now find so offensive, and unjustifiably so. The message was and is rather straightforward - spreading faith by violence is unreasonable because violence is incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul.

The Pope was accurate in his reference, after all, in quoting from Emperor Manuel II Paleologus, he referred directly to the Koran, and said:

... sura 2:256 reads: "There is no compulsion in religion." It is one of the suras of the early period, when Mohammed was still powerless and under [threat]. But naturally the emperor also knew the instructions, developed later and recorded in the Koran, concerning holy war.

Without descending to details, such as the difference in treatment accorded to those who have the "Book" and the "infidels," he turns to his interlocutor somewhat brusquely with the central question on the relationship between religion and violence in general, in these words: "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."

The emperor goes on to explain in detail the reasons why spreading the faith through violence is something unreasonable. Violence is incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul. "God is not pleased by blood, and not acting reasonably ("syn logo") is contrary to God's nature. Faith is born of the soul, not the body. Whoever would lead someone to faith needs the ability to speak well and to reason properly, without violence and threats.... To convince a reasonable soul, one does not need a strong arm, or weapons of any kind, or any other means of threatening a person with death...."

Again, for those among us who might be slow learners or follow a particular version of a religion that forbids them to think for themselves, the entire point of the Pope's message is that violence is incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul. "God is not pleased by blood, and not acting reasonably ("syn logo") is contrary to God's nature. Faith is born of the soul, not the body. Whoever would lead someone to faith needs the ability to speak well and to reason properly, without violence and threats.... To convince a reasonable soul, one does not need a strong arm, or weapons of any kind, or any other means of threatening a person with death. In referencing jihad during his address about faith and reason, the Pope was emphasizing how they cannot be separated and that they are essential for "that genuine dialogue of cultures and religions so urgently needed today."

This point has, up until now, been missed by the media and many people following the particular brand of a religion I referred to above. Hence, in this morning's news, already:

Muslims blast pope's Islam speech, Lucknow Shias demand apology from Pope, , and they're even fighting each other over it - Muslims fight each other in Pope row. And trust me, this is only a warm-up to the plethora of news stories of Muslim rage over the Pope's comments)

I don't know about the rest of you guys and gals, and I don't believe that I'm being insensitive here, but I'm getting a little tired of constantly having to be concerned with or hear about the sensitivities of Muslims that are in a ready-state of perpetual outrage. When are we all going to say, "Enough already - get a life"? As is pointedout in Hot Air's post on the same subject (more below in extended post), not a word is said by Christians or by the media about the filth that pours regularly from the lips of Islamic religious authorities around the world.

But let the Pope say that Holy War and violent Jihad is unreasonable, and the entire damned Muslim world lights up in a firestorm and the media leaps to report it while condemning the guy that said violence is unreasonable and evil.

Something is drastically wrong with this picture!

Posted by Richard at September 16, 2006 6:50 AM