This was sent in response to a discussion on the Pope’s comments that has started so much violence. Here for search-ability!
Brother John!
I will start my reply with one simple statement. Without
reason there is no discussion. My fear here is that the religion of
Islam has been hijacked by the radicals to the point of no longer
being able to distinguish from the two. Having read great portions of
the Koran I can safely state that the God of the Koran (yes we can get
into the singularity of God through Islam/Christianity - Another time
Brother John) is peaceful. The God of the Koran as with Christianity
does not rejoice in war. I think what comes into play here is the
quote states a very true fact.
Using that as my segue (and I hope the same reaction is not
formed because of it 
) Pope Benedict, I believe, is by nature a
peaceful man. There is great beauty in a Pope selecting the name
Benedict right? I believe that Saint Benedict was in many ways faced
with the same challenges as Pope Benedict. Peace during troubled
times. With that said I would state for myself that Muhammad “could be
peaceful.” If we look at the first portion of the Koran we see he is
not in power and very very peaceful. Watch out when he gets the
reigns. I say this because in the second half of the Koran a very
dangerous topic emerges that I believe the Pope uses in his speech -
“Choose my religion or die” is at it’s lowest levels incompatible with
God. I believe that was the purpose of the quote and use of Medieval
text. Here we have an emperor under siege from the Muslims and
speaking with the counterpart. If read in it’s entirety, the paper
CLEARLY states that this is an introduction into Faith and Reason. I
find it pompous that this is acceptable to assume that if a quote is
made you must agree with the person with who is quoted. “What luck for
rulers, that men do not think.” - Adolf Hitler. Let that be my
example.
What is more troubling for me is the time line. How can I not
watch the unraveling of events and not think this is a big dog and
pony show. An official release was made shortly after the speech
clarifying the Pope’s use of the medieval paper and the reason for it.
This was not good enough and the violence continued. The Pope has now
officially come out and reiterated again that the purpose was not to
incite violence and cause tears between the groups. What happens, more
violence and a statement that this was not good enough. Now that time
has passed I want to look more closely at what the first statement
stated from Cardinal Bertone and why it should have been more than
enough to stop this all. The main points being:
* “the Holy Father did not mean, nor does he mean, to make that
opinion his own in any way.”
* “The Church regards with esteem also the Muslims. They adore the one God.”
* “Demonstrations of violence cannot be attributed to religion as such
but to the cultural limitations with which it is lived and develops in
time”
My one quibble with this release would be the last statement
that this is simply a group of yahoos running around causing all this.
I disagree. The Parliament of Pakistan has come out condemning the
Pope. Look at this quote from their Foreign Minister - “Anyone who
describes Islam as a religion as intolerant encourages violence,” What
a bunch of double talk there. Don’t describe as us being violent or we
will get violent. Sheesh. No worries though because it isn’t just
Pakistan, the entire Organization of Islamic Conference has come out
now demand that the UN Human Rights council get involved. The OIC
represents 57 Islamic nations. My friend, I would feel all the better
if the shouts of the “radical groups” were drowned out by the peaceful
Muslims for which you speak. As of now I am beginning to think your
equation is much an inverse.
To end this paper I wish to agree with you. As a Catholic man,
peace is the message of the Gospel. Hospitality means accepting and
loving the man who does you wrong. As such I will continue to pray for
reason in this time or turmoil. I fear though that hospitality is now
falling to risk of violence. The Catechism of the Catholic Church
clearly states that we are to defend ourselves when put in risk for
our lives. You may chuckle this off as an extreme, but it has already
been established that the Pope’s comments is now costing the lives of
peaceful Christians everywhere:
* http://www.aina.org/news/20060916154058.htm - Christian Killed in Iraq
* http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3304614,00.html - We will
blow up Christian Churches in Gaza
* http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-09-17T135931Z_01_L17724017_RTRUKOC_0_US-SOMALIA-ITALIAN.xml&archived=False
- Nun Slain
I can only pray for an end to this violence as it is now costing
lives. We can only watch in horror now as peaceful loving people
become martyrs for a lack of reason.
In Christ — Nick
