Sex in paradise: a touchy subject of Muslim debate

Adult guidance should be sought in reading this posting from Pertinacious Papist, it is a site I have not seen before, worth having a look.

One of the notorious facts about Islam is its sensual portrayal of paradise as a place flowing with wine and honey, springs and fountains, whose pebbles are rubies and emeralds, whose earth is camphor, and where the beds are made of musk. But the eclipsing all these glories are the charms of the houris -- resplendent and ravishing "dark-eyed" virgins, created, not of clay, as are mortal women, but of pure musk, and free from all natural impurities and defects. Their breasts are said to be kawa'eb -- swelling and firm, not sagging; and in order to enjoy them to the full, Allah will give to each Muslim man 72 houris and the manliness of a hundred mortals in this heaven of perpetual youth and, of copulation, "all that they desire." The righteous in paradise will be served also by boys, "pure as pearls," dressed in green garments of fine silk and heavy brocade, adorned with bracelets of silver, and used to drinking wine. And then, there's this:
In 1992, Islamic assassins had gunned down ... Farag Foda, a professor and columnist, a human rights activist, and an outspoken critic of the Islamic militants.... About two weeks before his murder, he mocked what passed for intellectual discourse among Islamicists by citing a recent sermon by Egypt's most popular preacher ... [who] had been telling his audience that Muslims who entered paradise would enjoy eternal erections and the company of young boys draped in earrings and necklaces. Some of the ulema, the religious scholars at al-Azhar University, the government's seat of Islamic learning, had disagreed. Yes, they said, men in paradise would have erections, but merely protracted, not perpetual. Other experts disputed the possibility of pederasty in paradise.

John Allen on the Pope, Jihad and an alliance with Islam

John Allen has a very interesting comment on what might be the Pope's message in Turkey next month he compares the writing of the Pope and Sayyid Qutb, the radical Islamicist, hanged by Nasser in 1966.

Ever since the announcement of the Apostolic visit the ecumenical and interfaith dimensions have been very significant, I believe he regards it as the highpoint of his Papacy so far. Ardent Vatican watchers are aware that from the very beginning of his Papacy the relationship with Orthodoxy have been important but maybe the relationship and dialogue with Islam has been underestimated. Allen continually regards the Pope's words on Islam at Regensburg as a mistake or an error, I think they were really quite deliberate to lance the boil of violence, in order to speak about what Christianity and Islam have in common. First of all it is that man is not "homo faber", an industrial cog, a mere consumer under the illusion of secular western culture.

Sandro Magister has an a very useful piecen on dialogue.

Decapitated Syrian-Orthodox priest laid to rest in Mosul

Mosul (AsiaNews) – Fr Paulos Eskandar was laid to rest in Mosul today. The decapitated body of the Syrian-Orthodox priest was found in an eastern district of this Iraqi city yesterday. He was abducted last Monday by an unknown Islamic group which posted a hefty ransom of US$250-350,000, the Assyrian International News Agency (AINA) reported. The group also demanded that signs be posted on his church apologising for the Pope's Regensburg remarks as a pre-condition for negotiations.
AINA also published a letter from an Iraqi priest who fled to Sweden, describing what amounts to a full blown campaign of terror against Christians in Iraq.
Based on accounts from Christians still living in the country, Fr Adris Hanna warns that “Christians are living a terrified life in Mosul and Baghdad. Several priests have been kidnapped, girls are being raped and murdered, and a couple of days ago a fourteen-year-old boy was crucified in the Christian neighbourhood of Albasra.”
Father P. Hanna also reported that he spoke “to a group of nuns who were robbed and treated brutally on their way between Baghdad to Amman in Jordan.”
He ended his letter with a plea: “We must do what we can to stop [the massacre] . . . . We must do something.”

Turkish Hi-jacker: what's happened to him?

John Allen

When news events such as Pope Benedict's Sept. 12 comments on Islam set off a global earthquake, there are always a few after-shocks. Such was the case this week, with Tuesday's hijacking of a Turkish Airlines plane, en route from Albania to Istanbul, and its forced landing in Brindisi, Italy.
Initially, the hijacking was billed as a protest of Benedict's November trip to Turkey, and that briefly galvanized media interest. When it turned out, however, that hijacker Hakan Ekinci was not a Muslim but a Christian, and that his aim was not to protest the pope but to ask for his help, the story lost its legs.
According to news reports from Turkey, Ekinci, 28, is a convert to Christianity who fled Turkey to avoid compulsory military service. A Turkish blog published a letter he apparently wrote to Benedict last August: "Dear pope, I am a Christian and I do not want to serve in a Muslim army," it said, adding, "Only your sublime leadership will save me."
Ekinci told Italian authorities that he feared for his life after converting to Islam.
To what extent those fears are legitimate, or whether Ekinci is simply playing the religion card in order to avoid his country's draft, remains to be seen. There is no question, however, that a rising tide of Islamist sentiment in supposedly secular Turkey has made life more difficult for its Christian minority.
In February, following the murder of Italian missionary Fr. Andrea Santoro, I spoke with Bishop Luigi Padovese, apostolic administrator in Anatolia, about the situation facing Turkish Christians. He referred to an "anti-Christian climate" in the country manufactured by politicians and the press.
Padovese said that every week the Turkish bishops' conference prepares a bulletin citing "denigrating comments" or "banalities" about Christianity that have appeared in the media.
As one example, a rural Turkish newspaper recently carried an article titled, "A priest sighted." It reported that local children had seen a priest in the vicinity of the town, but chased him off to the great applause of the locals. The article then quoted a local politician: "Priests who arrive in our area want to re-establish the Christian Greek-Orthodox state that was here before. There are spies among these priests, working for the West. They are trying to destroy our peace."
In such a climate, fears such as those expressed by Ekinci may not be entirely unreasonable.
"There were several million Christians in Turkey at the fall of the Ottoman Empire," Padovese said. "How is it possible that in the arc of just 70 or 80 years we've become merely 60,000 or 70,000? The truth is that hundreds of thousands of Christians converted to Islam, taking Islamic names and hiding their identity, out of fear of persecution," he said.

"The Christian presence is still there, I know it's there," Padovese said. "Many of these people know that they are Christians, or come from Christian families, but cannot say so."
The anxieties of Christian minorities in the Islamic world certainly do not justify hijacking airplanes, but they're undeniably part of the overall picture in Muslim/Christian relations. Unfortunately, because that doesn't jibe with the "Muslims mad at pope" storyline of the last few weeks, the Ekinci story was basically dropped.
Let's hope that when the pope actually goes to Turkey, assuming the security situation permits, we all dig a bit deeper.

Violent Islam, cowardly Europe: from the cartoons to Regensburg

Dante's tomb, Ravenna

This quite a provocative piece from Asian News
by Samir Khalil Samir, sj

"The tendency to see a “conspiracy” is present among cultured Muslims.
A few days ago, in Berlin, an opera of Mozart, Idomeneo was cancelled: it featured the decapitated head of Muhammad (together with those of Jesus, Buddha and Neptune) and the director of the theatre feared Islamic vendetta.
Islamic pressure on our culture is becoming increasingly pervasive.
In France, a teacher Robert Redeker, who criticized Islam at school, was threatened with death. Two years ago, some people wanted to destroy the tomb of Dante Alighieri because he put Muhammad in hell; a year ago, some wanted to destroy the fresco of St Petronius in Bologna because Muhammad was depicted as condemned in the universal judgment.
Two years ago, in Geneva, the theatrical work of Voltaire, Zadiq, was banned because it talked about Muhammad. But then: Dante, St Petronius, Voltaire, Mozart, the cartoons, the pope... all European culture is censored by Europeans out of a false respect for Islam or for a quiet life!
There is no realization that our culture and uniqueness are at stake.
Let me give another example. Every year, it becomes known that a Muslim delegation refused to participate in a reception given by some European authorities or others, because apart from non alcoholic drinks, wine and spirits were served, and these are banned by rigorous Islam. In Paris, some months back, an Iranian delegation withdrew because France refused to do away with wine. "

al-Zawahri: Pope is a charlatan

The main thrust of al-Quaida’s #2 on a newly released video was an attack on President Bush, it was expected that he would also attack the Pope. A

According to the IntelCenter, al-Zawahri said Benedict is reminiscent of Pope Urban II, who in 1095 ordered the First Crusade to establish Christian control in the Holy Land.
"This charlatan accused Islam of being incompatible with rationality while forgetting that his own Christianity is unacceptable to a sensible mind."

"If Benedict attacked us, we will respond to his insults with good things. We will call upon him, and all of the Christians to become Muslims who do not recognize the Trinity or the crucifixion."

Trawling through the sites this seemed to be more or less all he had to say, about the Pope, which for al-Quaida is almost gentle, maybe the Pope's words are being listened to. Let us pray that is so.

not really directly connected but...
I thought it might be interesting to see what came up when I put "POPE" into the Ajazeera search engine, this is the top ten.

1 - Zawahiri blasts Bush, Pope in video (9/29/2006) Aljazeera reports that Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda's number two, in a new video message has called US President George Bush a liar who had failed in his war against al-Qaeda.
2 - Echoes of the pope in al-Azhar mosque (9/27/2006) The protests in Egypt and the rest of the Muslim world over remarks made by Pope Benedict XVI, who implicitly linked Islam and violence, particularly in regard to jihad have still not abated.
3 - Pope tells of 'respect' for Muslims (9/25/2006) Pope Benedict XVI has met Muslim diplomats in Rome as part of the Catholic church's latest effort to mend relations with the Islamic world.
4 - EU official criticises Muslim fury (9/24/2006) Jose Manuel Durao Barroso, the EU Commission president, has strongly defended Pope Benedict XVI, saying Muslim criticism was unacceptable.
5 - Let us be rational (9/24/2006) The Muslim overreaction to the pope's remarks may go to support his point about Muslim's problems with rationality.
6 - Palestinians protest against pope (9/23/2006) Thousands of Muslims staged anti-pope marches in Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza on Friday, waving green Hamas banners and denouncing the pontiff as a coward.
7 - Pope invites Muslim envoys to Rome (9/22/2006) Pope Benedict will meet Muslim ambassadors to the Vatican and Italian Islamic leaders in an attempt to end the furore caused by his speech in Germany.
8 - Pope: Islam remarks not my views (9/20/2006) Pope Benedict XVI has said his use of medieval quotes critical of Islam, which infuriated Muslims worldwide, did not reflect his own convictions and were misunderstood.
9 - Papal envoys move to defuse anger (9/19/2006) The Vatican has begun a diplomatic drive to calm tensions after comments on Islam by Pope Benedict XVI.
10 - Pope's speech: Archbishop urges calm (9/18/2006) The Archbishop of Canterbury has called for calm over Pope Benedict XVI’s remarks about Islam, asking that they been seen in context.

Patriarch of Constantinople speaks

Ecumenical Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople speaks about the Popes forthcoming visit to Istanbul, religious freedom and there is a little about the Turkish state control (persecution) of the Orthodox Church Turkey as well as a snippet about thre Orthodox- Catholic talks in Belgrade.

"In general, the pope is awaited in Turkey with joy and love," he said. He added that he was certain the government would take all necessary security measures to guarantee the pope's safety during the visit. Patriarch Bartholomew met with reporters the day after the European Union pressed the Turkish government to take several steps to respect the rights of religious minorities. Turkey is trying to enter the European Union, and Orthodox church officials are hoping that process will help expand religious freedom in the country.

The patriarch ends by speaking of the recent theological encounter in Belgrade, Serbia-Montenegro, opened the way for a discussion on papal primacy, long considered one of the most difficult ecumenical issues. Metropolitan John of Pergamon, Orthodox co-chairman of the international Catholic-Orthodox theological dialogue commission, told the reporters that Orthodox representatives to the dialogue have somewhat divergent views on papal primacy. Because they represent 15 Orthodox churches, he said, they do not feel they have to assume a unified position."Of course, the Roman Catholic Church is more disciplined, more organized, more obedient. We are more ...," he said, pausing to find the right word."Democratic," Patriarch Bartholomew said with a laugh, completing his sentence for him.
read whole article

Response to Regensburg, continued

I was sent this video last night, best to watch it without the sound turned off, the music is really irritating, it tries to put the words of Manuel ii into context, with some disturbing images. It is perhaps a little illiberal for my tastes, but even then I find that my opinions over the last few weeks like many are hardening.
BE WARNED


In the aftermath of the Pope's Regensburg Address, the anger of many in the Arab world has abated somewhat, after the storm reasonable voices are being heard.
However Gulf News carried this story
"Islamic ministers ask pope to retract remarks on Islam. United Nations: Foreign Ministers of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference have called on Pope Benedict XVI "to retract or redress" his "inappropriate" comments equating Islam with violence, according to a communique seen here yesterday.
Meeting late Monday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, the ministers of the 57-member OIC "expressed their profound regrets over the terms used by his Holiness Pope Benedict XVI in his lecture at the University of Regensburg in Bavaria, Germany, with regard to the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH)."
Some are waiting for Al Quaida's number 2 to issue a statement about the remarks, which he has threatened to do. i presume in some parts of the world that will mean more burnt churches and lives threatened.
Sheikh Abu Saqer, leader of Gaza's Jihadia Salafiya Islamic outreach movement, which seeks to make secular Muslims more religious, called the pope a "puppet" for "that Crusader George Bush."
The Gaza imam said the only Christian-Muslim dialogue that is acceptable is one in which "all religions agree to convert to Islam."

Berlin opera cancels Mozart production

Berin opera house said it has canceled a controversial production from its fall season, citing authorities' fears it posed undue security risks because it featured the severed heads of Buddha, Jesus and Muhammad.
In a statement released late Monday, the Deutsche Opera said it had decided "With great regret" To cancel a planned production of Mozart's "Idomeneo" From its fall season, after Berlin security officials warned of an "Incalculable risk" Due to scenes dealing with Islam, as well as other religions.
After its premiere in 2003, the production by Hans Neuenfels drew widespread criticism over the scene in which King Idomeneo presents the severed heads, not only of Poseidon, but of Jesus, Buddha and Muhammad.

"We know the consequences of the conflict over the (Muhammad) caricatures," The opera house said in a statement. "We believe that needs to be taken very seriously and hope for your support."
Germany's top security official, Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, who is visiting Washington, condemned the decision, which came ahead of a planned Wednesday
conference on Islam.
"That is crazy," Said Schaeuble told reporters. "This is unacceptable."

In Berlin they could of course not insult Judaism by featuring Moses. It is not Jesus or Buddha that is a problem, it is the fear of Islam. I say perform and be damned. It is now hardly original to be deliberately offensive to religions, what is being said, religion is something to be overcome? It reminds me of the performances put on during the French Revolution, Reason enthroned on the High Altar of Notre Dame du Paris, donkeys drinking out of chalices. The truth is of course, as history has shown, that what was really being portrayed was a culture that had lost its respect for any human values and moved from the Reign of Terror to the Napoleonic wars of European dominaton.

Radical Muslims against pope: two churches attacked in Mosul and Baghdad

Muslim militias have forced Christians to pin up posters condemning the words of Benedict XVI in Regensburg. But religious leaders, including al Sistani, have expressed their friendship with the Apostolic Nunciature. And the representative of the Iraqi Shiite leader would like to meet the pope.
read more

Pope meets Islamic world envoys

Pope Benedict XVI has met envoys from Muslim nations in an attempt to defuse a crisis in relations between the Catholic Church and Islam.
He expressed "total and profound respect" for the Muslim faith, and said inter-faith dialogue was vital.

......


"...The inter-religious and inter-cultural dialogue between Christians and Muslims is, in effect, a vital necessity, on which a large part of our future depends."

.....

He also quoted his predecessor, John Paul II, stating the need for "reciprocity in all fields".
read whole bbc story

and from Canada Now
“In a world marked by relativism and too often excluding the transcendence and universality of reason, we are in great need of an authentic dialogue between religions and between cultures, capable of assisting us, in a spirit of fruitful co-operation, to overcome all the tensions together,” the pope said.
“Christians and Muslims must learn to work together, as indeed they already do in many common undertakings, in order to guard against all forms of intolerance and to oppose all manifestations of violence,” he added.

Holy See's site a fuller text of the speech

An email from the Jubilee Prayer Campaign

"Dear Praying Friends,

Sadly, the 3 Christians were executed Thursday night by firing squad, apparently around 1 a.m, Indonesian time, (about 6 p.m British time).

We can take some solace in the fact that our campaigning and prayers helped delay their execution by at least more than a month (originally they were supposed to be executed on August 12) no small amount of time for somebody on death row.

It also sent a much needed signal to the Indonesian authorities that the lives of Christians are not as "cheap and expendable" as some of them think, and this may make them think twice before they try to frame other Indonesian Christians in future.

To try to ensure that no further injustices like this ever occur in Indonesia again, Jubilee Campaign will be launching a campaign of protest to the Indonesian authorities over these executions. This will be included in the next letter writing actions and prayer diary.

Thousands of Christians in central Sulawesi have been protesting against the executions and tensions are running high in that area. Pray that conflict and violence will not be re-ignited in that region. Pray for the families of Dominggus, Fabianus and Marinus, that God will comfort and console them and provide for their needs, including their material needs.

Many thanks to you for all your help, to everyone who prayed and wrote letters on behalf of the 3 Christians.

Best wishes,

Wilfred

Parliamentary Officer
Jubilee Campaign"

It will be useful to write to the addresses on the "Newletter" part of this blog (see sidebar) expressing concern that the execution took place.

Compare Christianity and Islam: a readers comment

A reader left this anonomously on the Chiesa post, below. I thought it was worth featuring.

The media often link religions and violence, coming up with the secularist, "they are all the same aren't they" arguement. But... Christianity (and Islam) is not primarily the practice of its adherents. It is the written revelation. In the Christian revelation there is NO sanction for violence or even the use of politics to extend the kingdom. ("Our warfare is not against flesh and blood etc"). When a Christian says that governments should do this or that he is at BEST applying a Christian mind to a worldly problem.In fact we are commanded to render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's and to God that which is His. So Christians are free to disagree with Pat Robertson and are likely to do so. However this is not the same in Islam. Many are the unrescinded references to the use of proactive force against unbelievers.

Calm follows riots caused by execution of three Catholics

by Benteng Reges
The execution by firing squad of three Catholic men in Palu sparked protest in various parts of Indonesia. In predominantly Catholic Nusa Tenggara Timur province order has been restored. Tibo’s son says father asked for forgiveness, not vengeance. Requiem mass is held in Palu without the bodies.

Palu (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Things are under control in Nusa Tenggara Timur province after violence broke out following the execution by firing squad of three Catholic men: Fabianus Tibo, 60, Marinus Riwu, 48, and...

[Continue]

Pope invites Islamic diplomats

read article
The pontiff will open the doors of his summer residence, Castel Gandolfo, to the ambassadors and members of the Italian Islam Consulta, according to ANSA, an Italian news agency. The Islam Cosulta is a council of the various Muslim community leaders in Italy who meet periodically with Italian government officials.

"The purpose of this meeting is to relaunch dialogue with the Islamic world," a senior Vatican official said on Friday.

Islamic diplomats accredited to the Holy See said they hoped the meeting would help restore trust between the Roman Catholic Church and Muslims angered by the pope's speech last week in Germany.

"We welcome it and are definitely going to participate," Iran's deputy ambassador to the Holy See, Ahmad Faihma, told Reuters.

"This is a positive signal from the Vatican. I know that this will improve relations with the Islamic world."

"This meeting will be very important, especially in these days, to try to stop every action that is not good," Fathi Abuabed, head of international relations at the Arab League's Vatican mission, told the agency.

John Allen's All things Catholic

Fall out from Benedict's comments on Islam; What's next for Christian-Muslim relations? click here for article

John Allen is one of the few religious commentators that should be taken seriously in this weeks column he speaks about Benedict and the Bush regime, Islam and Zionism. He dismisses the rather facile suggestions many have made recently about Benedict.

Indonesia: Catholics denied sacraments and then executed

Authorities in Indonesia denied three Catholic men the right to attend Mass on the day before their execution, which was carried out on just after midnight on September 22, the AsiaNews service reports.

Fabianus Tibo, Marinus Riwu and Domingus da Silva were scheduled to face a firing squad on early in the morning of September 21, but their execution was postponed for a day, without any official explanation. Prison officials refused to allow a priest to hear the men's confessions and celebrate Mass for them one last time on Thursday.

The officials' decision-- along with an accompanying decision that the bodies of the three men cannot lie in state in the Paul cathedral-- appears to violate Indonesian law, which stipulates that a prisoner's last wishes should be granted before execution.

On Thursday, human-rights groups were continuing their last-minute efforts to obtain clemency for the three men, who were convicted of organizing a massacre of Muslims during the religious fighting in the Sulawesi province in 2000. Their conviction came after a trial marked by many irregularities, with Islamic militants putting heavy pressure on the court. No Muslim has ever been convicted in connection with the religious warfare in Sulawesi.

[For a more detailed story see the AsiaNews web site.]

The Church – Part of the Problem or Part of the Solution?

I found this in the Brussels Journal, the author describes himself as "not a religious person", read the whole article

.......in Indonesia, about 10,000 Christians have been killed between 1998 and 2003 and about 1,000 churches have been burnt down by Muslim mobs. The radicals want Indonesia to be the foundation of a Southeast Asian caliphate that will launch Jihad against other nations such as Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines and Australia until they submit to Islam. In the Indonesian province Aceh, where sharia law officially prevails, Muslim mobs razed a church in response to a forged (by a Muslim) advertisement inviting Muslims to a Christian revival service. Witnesses said there were over 100 Muslim men present, many of them carrying swords. They poured gasoline over the building and set fire to it.
Why this aggressive reaction? According to Islamic law, Christians and Jews (not other religious groups) can live in an area dominated by Muslims, but only if they accept their status as second-rate citizens, dhimmis. This implies many restrictions, such as never trying to convert or preach to Muslims, never to have a relationship with a Muslim woman and never to say anything insulting about Islam or Muhammad. If even one single person breaches any of these conditions, the entire dhimmi community will be punished, and Jihad resumes. Notice that while Muslims, following each case of Islamic terrorism, are quick to say that not all Muslims should be punished for the actions of a few, this is precisely what sharia prescribes for non-Muslims.
What’s worse is that in practice, as in this case from Indonesia, attacks on non-Muslims can be triggered by unconfirmed rumors, personal grudges by Muslims or outright lies. In reality, this means that all non-Muslims will live with a constant, internalized fear of saying or doing anything that could insult Muslims, which would immediately set off physical attacks against them and their children. This state of constant fear is called dhimmitude. Many Middle Eastern, Pakistani and Indonesian Christians know that as a matter of survival, they must say one thing in public and another in private. They are held hostage in their own countries.
In Egypt, a film depiction of someone converting to Islam and then becoming disillusioned with his new religion was enough to bring more than 5,000 protestors to the church, get a nun stabbed and three people killed. Muslims interpreted it as a breach of the traditional Islamic law mandating death for anyone who leaves Islam, and of the old dhimmi laws forbidding non-Muslims to proselytize.

One good column

h/t Cafeteria is Closed
In the sea of liberal idiocy, this great column from the Wall Street Journal stands out positively:

Five days: That's how long it took Pope Benedict XVI to express regret for all the offense caused by his speech last week at the University of Regensburg, in his native Bavaria. But maybe his apology--on Sunday, he said he was "deeply sorry for the reactions in some countries to a few passages in my address"--was as sly as the speech itself.That speech deserves to be read in its totality, and not simply as the spark that set fire to churches across the West Bank because some Muslim fanatics object to the suggestion that there is too much violence in their religion. And yes: Contrary to nervous Vatican disclaimers, Benedict plainly implies that Islam is a faith of the sword, though he makes the point abstrusely, in the form of an anecdote about the late-14th-century Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologus........the story he tells about a conversation between the "erudite" Byzantine emperor and an "educated Persian" in the winter of 1391. In it, the emperor condemns the notion of holy war, calling it "evil and inhuman." This is the line in the speech that inspires the current controversy. Yet the emperor's point--and the pope's--is that "God is not pleased by blood. . . . Whoever would lead someone to faith needs the ability to speak well and to reason properly, without violence and threats."This story, and Benedict's personal recollections that precede it, have something in common: Both involve dialogue between men of radically different beliefs. The dialogue is possible, Benedict suggests, because despite their differences the respective sides are bound by a "single rationality," capable of inquiring broadly into all fields of knowledge, including the "reasonableness of faith." The more important point for Benedict, however, is that genuine dialogue is possible only if there is a shared conviction among the speakers that the alternatives to dialogue--violence, forced conversion and so on--are "contrary to God's nature."These reflections lead Benedict to a much graver indictment of Islam: "For Muslim teaching," he says, "God is absolutely transcendent. His will is not bound up with any of our categories, even that of rationality." Citing the 11th century polymath Ibn Hazm, Benedict adds that in Islam, "God is not bound even by his own word."Let's play that again, since the rest of the media failed to notice: Pope Benedict suggests that the God of Mohammad is, or may seem to humans to be, "not even bound to truth and goodness." Who knows whether that really reflects a consensus view down the ages among Muslim theologians--Benedict makes his case about Islam by citing one scholar who cites another scholar who cites another. The more interesting question is why Benedict goes out of his way to use Islam as an example, since he also warns against similar tendencies toward insisting on God's radical "otherness" within the Catholic tradition itself. So why can't he simply illustrate the controversies of faith without going outside the boundaries of his own?In fact, Benedict saves his sharpest barbs for non-Muslim targets: Protestantism, which seeks a "primordial" form of faith; liberal theology, which reduces Jesus to "the father of a humanitarian moral message"; scientific rationalism, the ethics of which are "simply inadequate" to answer the "specifically human questions about our origin and destiny"; and what might be called Catholic pluralism, a culturally adaptive notion of the faith that Benedict denounces as "false" and "coarse."These aren't mere provocations. There is an overarching philosophical architecture to Benedict's critique, expressed in the notion of the "de-Hellenization of Christianity."That rapprochement--a triumph of dialogue--lies at the heart of Benedict's theology: Strip faith from reason (as scientific rationalism does), or reason from faith (as Protestant literalism does), and "it is man himself who ends up being reduced."....A Europe that cannot understand its own religion, except as a form of subjective irrationalism, cannot possibly engage another. A Christianity that voluntarily recuses itself from reason cannot sustain a belief in the goodness of its convictions, to say nothing of its truth. A West that abandons a critical dialogue between faith and rational inquiry ceases to be the West. It becomes, in a peculiar way, guilty of the same errors Benedict accuses Islam of making. This is the pope's teaching, and it requires no apology. Notice that he offers none.

Indonesian Christians: to be executed on 23rd Sept

If you want to help with the Jubilee Campaign on behalf of these men click on "weekly newsletter" in the sidebar.