Choosing Outrage
September 17th, 2006 at 4:02 pm by CrankyThis may be a bit like preaching to the choir (pun intended), but the whole issue of the Pope and his intentionally misconstrued quote deserves a fair hearing.
Here’s the “offending” quote from a very academic message given at a religious university.
In the seventh conversation edited by Professor Khoury, the emperor touches on the theme of the holy war. The emperor must have known that surah 2, 256 reads: “There is no compulsion in religion”. According to the experts, this 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 Qur’an, concerning holy war. Without descending to details, such as the difference in treatment accorded to those who have the “Book” and the “infidels”, he addresses his interlocutor with a startling brusqueness on the central question about the relationship between religion and violence in general, saying: “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, after having expressed himself so forcefully, 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”, he says, “is not pleased by blood – and not acting reasonably is contrary to God’s nature.
…
The courage to engage the whole breadth of reason, and not the denial of its grandeur – this is the programme with which a theology grounded in Biblical faith enters into the debates of our time. “Not to act reasonably, not to act with logos, is contrary to the nature of God”, said Manuel II, according to his Christian understanding of God, in response to his Persian interlocutor. It is to this great logos, to this breadth of reason, that we invite our partners in the dialogue of cultures. To rediscover it constantly is the great task of the university.
Some points to consider:
- This dialogue occurred during the siege of Constantanople, which may have made the Christian emperor a little edgy.
- The context. The pope is speaking on two topics, dialogue between the faiths and the condemnation of religious violence.
- It shows how f’d up everything has become to see the world latch onto the quote and deliberately use it to completely flip the pope’s message on its ear.
The ignorance and hatred of the “Arab Street” is not excusable, but at this point in history completely predictable. I think what bothers me the most is how our Western press actually aligns themselves with the lowest common denominator of mankind as long as it furthers their anti-religious perspective.
September 17th, 2006 at 4:18 pm
That bothers me too. That and the shooting the nun in the back. And threatening to suicide bomb the Vatican. Or Palestinians burning Christians churches in the West Bank and Gaza.
Jake, in PTH’s thread, was saying the Pope didn’t really apologize. It does not matter. Not confronting them is giving them another victory.
They made the Pope apologize – in your face! Or as one of them put it, “the pope should fall on his knees and explain himself to Khatami”.
September 17th, 2006 at 6:15 pm
Call me silly, but I think any individual has the right to say anything that isn’t a threat and not be threatened with violence.
The Pope’s remark wasn’t anything like Iran’s President calling for a contest for cartoons about the Holocaust. And yet, did you see even ONE Jew call for violence? Uh…no. When Fred Phelps and his merry band of idiots go to military funerals to comdemn the souls of our soldiers to hell, Christians quickly come out and denounce him but never suggest violence toward him.
But to say anything remotely critical of Islam, it’s a call to Jihad, and in this case, it happened to be the pope.
I ask again, (and I’ve asked this on my commie blog) where is the Islamic peace movement? I really want to know. I’ll go organize with you and sing “Give Peace A Chance,” except I don’t sing well as a solo artist.
Next weekend is Rosh Hashanah, and at all the Synagogues in Nashville, we’ll have very high security, and have been told to just cooperate with law enforcement when they want to search our purses or go through our pants. We’ve been told not to bring any backbacks or any large purses. (I like large purses..it’s all I own) So as we (Jews) have to continue to be cautious of getting blown up, we don’t strike a chorus of violence.
The Pope had to apoligize to avoid WW3.
I have to get searched next weekend as if boarding a plane, not going to a Synagogue. What does that tell you about who is in control?
September 17th, 2006 at 7:47 pm
I have to get searched next weekend as if boarding a plane, not going to a Synagogue. What does that tell you about who is in control?
Ouch. That sums it up very well.
September 17th, 2006 at 9:14 pm
What you pointed out but didn’t expound on, Cranky, is the part the Western media played in spreading this lie in the Muslim world. The BBC was the first of the media tools spreading the fake story that the Pope had insulted Islam. The usual suspects, including the NYT, piled on with background that indicated they had not even read the Pope’s speech, but had only picked out certain parts and attributed comments to the Pope that he did not even make. So much for journalism. What these media outlets are trying to accomplish is to use these Muslims as foot soldiers in their war on the West. That they think they can control these Muslim savages shows how truly stupid they are.
September 17th, 2006 at 10:03 pm
Good point, jj.
I think that Bush Derangement Syndrome is just a symptom of a bigger mental disease which would causes these people to kill their own society to spite the right.
Not only is Bush worse than Ahmadinejad, the Defense of Marriage Act is worse than Sharia and doing away with racial quotas is equivilent to genocide.
Their immature, self-centered greivance mongering would have them find common cause with disaffected Muslims.
How does the major media become so infected with ths mentality?
September 17th, 2006 at 10:16 pm
Drugs.
Lots of them.
That’s my best guess…
September 17th, 2006 at 10:45 pm
No, it’s not drugs, it’s mental illness, perhaps enhanced by drugs, but for the most part it is a worldview taught at the liberal arts colleges that the West is evil, that everything the West has accomphished has always been at the expense of the brown or the black, and that there must be retribution and reparation.
And they are the enlightened ones to see that this is done, even at the expense of civilization. The latest outrage committed by these lunatics was the fauxtography/fauxporting on the latest Israeli-Hizb’Allah conflict. The fact that trained reporters, educated in the best academies, went along or cooperated with these Islamists is sickening, and shows the depths they will descend to in order to destroy Israel and the West. Traitor is too tame a word for these people.
September 18th, 2006 at 3:04 am
Links That Don’t Stink…
Funnies/Of Interest The Mother of All TrailersHow to Be a Mainstream LIberal News/Opinion Blogging for Bolton It’s Like magic…Choosing Outrage And, while here, take a gander at the blogads, and head to 123beta for more excellent reading…….
September 18th, 2006 at 11:19 am
Sharon, I’m sure glad you are here. I realize we are about polar opposites on the political scale, but one thing I truly admire about you is you see the threat mounting against all of us, and you don’t ignore it, or excuse it because of who is in office.
I’m upset that the Jewish community has been putting up with these kinds of threats for years and years now.
But, you have me wondering. Are Catholics going to have to hunker down now, and resort to having OUR bags searched? And security, which would be unprecedented? I guess because the Pope said it, all us Catholics are guilty by association, I’m sure.
September 18th, 2006 at 5:56 pm
dsmith,
First, thank you for the kind words.
And yes, the Jewish community has been putting up with these threats for a very long time. And they are worse than publicly known. My Rabbi, along with the other Rabbi’s work very closely with the FBI, almost on a weekly basis, because the threats come that often. I’m not going to publicly go into what the security is, but I’ll say that all Synagogues and the JCC in Nashville have spent hundreds of thousands of certain security measures. At my Synagogue, one has to be buzzed in. How sad is that? On the other hand, what other options do we have?
And yes, Catholics are now a target. Look at that poor nun who was murdered. Where is the outrage for that? Why isn’t the church quickly condemning that attack and saying her killer will be brought to justice? Probably the same reason I have to be seaches next weekend. F E A R. You know, if Christians and Jews actually stood up to the “people” doing this, they’d back down because they are absolute cowards. But we’re so worried about offending them, we sacrifice our freedom and people.
September 18th, 2006 at 6:16 pm
PS. I just found this via Drudge:
“A notorious Muslim extremist told a demonstration in London yesterday that the Pope should face execution.
Anjem Choudary said those who insulted Islam would be “subject to capital punishment”.
The rest of the story is here
September 20th, 2006 at 2:34 am
I agree, the rest of the world needs to step up and say ENOUGH!!
http://utsbb.blogspot.com/2006/09/islam-rageometer-and-other-picture.html