Comments from Pope Benedict XVI - 9.18.206.1

I know religion is a touchy subject for many people. I am not religious and look at all religions from the same light. All of the major world religions hold several tenets that are the same. That murder is bad, God is good, and treating one another well are just a few of the commonalities. But each has had problems with another on and off for centuries. It seems that co-existence peacefully is a short-lived event, or so history seems to show. And each religion has had actions that it supported that broke with these tenets. Given that I have to wonder about recent events.

Now how is it that the Pope would make a speech and not expect the outrage that has occurred. I’m sure most have heard that the Pope spoke recently and quoted a 14th century Byzantine emperor. That may not sound so bad, but the fact is that the quote attacks Islam. It would be similar to those in the past that found slavery to be ok because of statements by St. Aquinas or in the Bible itself. Except this is worse.

The Pope is a scholarly man, a former teacher of theology. What would make him think that a quote that equates Islam with evil would do anything to calm tensions. And how this would relate to the relationship between faith, reason and violence in a positive manner is lost on me. No matter what else was stated the quote is the focal point for everyone. And if the Pope believes his trip to Turkey is going to go well, he has more faith in human nature than I ever would.

I think that addressing the issue of attacking innocents in the name of God is a good thing. The fact that the Pope is doing it is slightly hypocritical though. The Christian church supported the Inquisition, the Crusades, slavery and quite a few other actions. That said though the ideal is worth speaking about. I just don’t understand how insulting the people you are speaking to about peaceful co-existence helps.

Any fanatic that would kill another human being simply because of their religion is wrong, I think. It doesn’t matter if the killer is pro-life killing an abortion doctor or a suicide bomber. It’s the same thing. I can’t see how any religious leader would support that since every major religious tome says the innocents should be protected and murder is wrong.

But pissing of an entire religion by using a quote that you know is insulting to them because you want to address the wrongful murder of innocents, I can’t get my head around that. It just seems counter productive.

This is what I think, what do you think?