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| Policy Review: Religion Within Reason - Pope Benedict's Critique of Islam |
| 2007-12-07 |
| Posted by:3dc |
| #2 I am not Catholic and often find myself in disagreement with his arguments but I enjoy it enormously that a public figure should still be capable of making such arguments in the first place. I like this Pope. |
| Posted by: Excalibur 2007-12-07 16:12 |
| #1 Good opening that serves as a summary for those who misconstured his previous speeches and writings. The pope was making the Enlightenment's argument about the necessity for discourse mediated by reason in the search for truth; he claimed that his Christian faith is constituted through reason, that it can contain no tenets, and legitimate no actions, that are unreasonable. He was not claiming that Christians have never acted irrationally, violently; he was making a moral argument about what a Christian Â’s faith demands, and he was making this argument as a religious leader desirous and capable of engaging in a serious and reasoned dialogue with people of other faiths about their respective convictions. He was manifesting his awareness of the present circumstances by implying that Muslims must engage in such a dialogue if they are to have any hope of successfully combating "irrationality, violence," within their religious community. And I see things the same way. Beyond that, there are some serious stretching ov words by the article author whom I beleive misconstrues the arguments the Pope makes (for the writer's rhetorical convenience, and not neccesarily for the full truth of the matter). But I also believe that the Pope may be overreaching when it comes to reasoning with the Radical Moslems - they have placed themselves beyond the reach of reason and refuse to engage the mind that God gave them. Give them a chance but there has to be a line somewhere. Interesting read, although it is slanted against the Pope and from an academic protestant viewpoint. Good quote that we may want to save here for use in Rantburg: Muslim scholars and civil society need to challenge the pope on the terms and text of his debate rather than demanding an apology (Salmaan Keshavjee, September 15, 2006) |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2007-12-07 13:18 |