{"id":5813,"date":"2006-09-16T01:30:42","date_gmt":"2006-09-16T01:30:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/viamedia\/2006\/09\/more-pontificating.html"},"modified":"2006-09-16T01:30:42","modified_gmt":"2006-09-16T01:30:42","slug":"more-pontificating","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2006\/09\/more-pontificating.html","title":{"rendered":"More Pontificating"},"content":{"rendered":"

The NYTimes demands an apology:<\/a><\/p>\n

(underlining and red stuff my emphasis. I’m really offended at outraged that the New York Times <\/em>has insulted the leader of my religious tradition. I demand an apology! More tomorrow.)<\/p>\n

\n
\n

There is more than enough religious anger in the world. So it is particularly disturbing that Pope Benedict XVI has insulted<\/u> Muslims, quoting a 14th-century description of Islam as \u201cevil and inhuman.\u201d <\/p>\n

In the most provocative part of a speech this week on \u201cfaith and reason,\u201d (scare quotes…why???) <\/em><\/span>the pontiff recounted a conversation between an \u201cerudite\u201d Byzantine Christian emperor and a \u201clearned\u201d Muslim Persian circa 1391. The pope quoted the emperor saying, \u201cShow me just what Muhammad 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

(So…now we live in a world in which quoting 14th century texts necessitates apologies?)<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Muslim leaders the world over have demanded apologies and threatened to recall their ambassadors from the Vatican, warning that the pope\u2019s words dangerously reinforce a false and biased view of Islam. For many Muslims, holy war \u2014 jihad \u2014 is a spiritual struggle, and not a call to violence. And they denounce its perversion by extremists, who use jihad to justify murder and terrorism. (And a few Muslims around the world have burned an effigy of the Pope, held angry protests and have said that the Pope’s words might inspire violence…which argues against the purported point being made…how?)<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

The Vatican issued a statement saying that Benedict meant no offense and in fact desired dialogue. But this is not the first time the pope has fomented discord<\/u> between Christians and Muslims. <\/p>\n

In 2004 when he was still the Vatican\u2019s top theologian, he spoke out against Turkey\u2019s joining the European Union, because Turkey, as a Muslim country was \u201cin permanent contrast to Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n

A doctrinal conservative, his greatest fear<\/u> appears to be the loss of a uniform Catholic identity, not exactly the best jumping-off point for tolerance or interfaith dialogue. <\/u><\/p>\n

The world listens carefully to the words of any pope. And it is tragic and dangerous<\/u> when one sows pain, either deliberately or carelessly. He needs to offer a deep and persuasive<\/u> apology, demonstrating that words can also heal. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

(Please send me links to the NYTimes editorials calling on Muslim leaders to offer deep and persuasive apologies for pervasive, virulent and demonic anti-Semitic speech and action endemic in the Middle East, as well as the persecution of non-Muslims in many Muslim countries. Thanks much. It shouldn’t take long.)<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

The. Gall. <\/p>\n

I’ll have more to say at some point tomorrow. Meanwhile, you have a go. You’ll do better than I at this point, considering my brain just exploded.<\/p>\n

(And in case you’re slow- that request for links is called "sarcasm")<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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The Catholicism comes from her side. Amy grew up in a number of places - Indiana - Washington, DC - Lubbock Texas - Arlington, Virginia - DeKalb, Illinois - Lawrence, Kansas - and Knoxville, Tennessee, where the family settled in 1973. She attended Knoxville Catholic High School, then the University of Tennessee where she majored in history. She received an MA in Church History from Vanderbilt University, where she wrote a thesis on the changing role of women in 19th century American Protestantism, and the ways Scripture was used to justify those changes. She worked as as a teacher in Catholic high schools and a Parish Director of Religious Education and started writing for the diocesan press - the Florida Catholic - in 1988. Amy has written columns for Our Sunday Visitor and Catholic News Service at times over the past twenty years. Her articles have been published in venues ranging from Our Sunday Visitor to the New York Times to Commonweal. She has written 17 books. 18, if you included the as yet tragically unpublished novel. Amy has five children, ranging in age from 26 to 4 and was married to Michael Dubruiel, who died unexpectedly in February 2009. She lives in Birmingham, Alabama.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/author\/awelborn"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/180"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5813"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5813\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}