Was Benedict wrong?
Posted on Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Most rational observers of the
situation can probably agree that
including text in a speech delivered by Pope Benedict XVI last week that suggests Islam is an “ evil and inhuman” religion was not in the best interests of the world community. In the big scheme of things, figures like the Holy Father are here to bridge the schisms that exist between societies — not to create them.
And yet the mean-spirited comments the pope’s words induced throughout the Muslim world can only leave Christians wondering just how wrong Benedict really was.
For example, one government official in Turkey said Pope Benedict “ has a dark mentality that comes from the darkness of the Middle Ages. He is a poor thing that has not benefited from the spirit of reform in the Christian world. It looks like an effort to revive the mentality of the Crusades. ” Lebanon’s most senior Shiite cleric refused to accept the pope’s apology this weekend. In Jordan, the state-owned newspaper said the pope “ should apologize for his unprecedented remarks and clarify what he meant, so as to ease the fears of Muslims who sense they are becoming the target of an orchestrated campaign. ”
Pope Benedict’s comments have even brought together Shiite and Sunni Arabs in Iraq, one of whom said late last week that the comments were proof the pope and the Vatican are “ Zionists, and that they are far from Christianity. ”
A handful felt violence was the best reaction to the Holy Father’s comments. Four churches in the West Bank were attacked in the days following last week’s comments, as Palestinians shot holes in the sides of churches and set their doors aflame.
While it’s worth noting that some Muslim clerics have pleaded with Muslims around the world not to react violently to Benedict’s words — lest they become a self-fulfilling prophecy — conclusions denouncing Pope Benedict as an evil person strain credibility. All of us have to be sensible enough to realize the pope meant no harm in referencing a 14 th-century Byzantine Christian emperor’s feelings about the Muslim faith. Following is Benedict’s exact quote:
“ He said, I quote, “ Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhumane, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached, ” the pope said.
Although Benedict’s apology failed to mend fences (according to some observers he apologized for the violence sparked by his speech made in Germany last week, but not for the quote he referenced ) those most troubled by the pope’s message must calm down. For the sake of keeping ours a rational world, they must.
Regardless of what anyone says, common sense should (at a minimum ) be proof enough that Islam is not an “ evil and inhumane” religion. Quite the contrary. No more than Timothy McVeigh’s actions that day in Oklahoma City makes all Christians murders, the behavior of 19 hijackers five years ago does not mean the entire Muslim world is populated with terrorists.
Yet interpreters of the Bible and the Koran must reach an understanding that our words count for a great deal — especially in this mass-media age of ours, when what’s said in Germany can be debated in Malaysia five minutes later. In addition, it’s always been the case that there are people in this world who live to point out all the ways their “ opponents” in this life are wrong, rather than searching for all the ways we’re really very much alike.
In fact, Christians and Muslims have a great deal more in common that we might realize. Instead of focusing on the humanity that brings us together, all of us are guilty of being too quick to let a few ill-chosen words by our religious and / or political leaders pull us apart. Just Monday the Ayatollah Ali Khameni, the top cleric in Iran, said the pope’s remarks are “ the latest link” in the “ chain of conspiracy to set off a crusade. ”
Frankly it’s not a little upsetting that humanity hasn’t come farther in the last 1, 000 years. All of us should be doing better at understanding that members of “ other faiths” aren’t necessarily terrible people.
Maybe those of us most upset by this recent fracture between faiths ought to reach into our pocketbooks and contribute a few dollars to the King Fahd Center for Middle East and Islamic Studies at the University of Arkansas. According to its Web site, the program is “ dedicated to the vision of international education and exchange promoted by the late Senator J. William Fulbright. ” The King Fahd Center exists to encourage communication and understanding between the world’s faiths and societies so that headaches like the one set off by Pope Benedict might be avoided.
We must understand that so long as humans are doing the talking, failures to take everyone’s feelings into consideration will remain a possibility. All of us must also learn to deal with these clumsy mistakes in an adult and rationale manner, and not take a single phrase as clear-cut proof of a person’s ignorance regarding a major world religion.
If the earth is to survive the modern era’s violent passions, we’re going to need more programs like the King Fahd Center to serve as a calming tool for those on both sides of the divide.
Scott Shackelford is editorial page editor of the Northwest Arkansas Times. His column appears on Tuesdays.
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