Re: [MLUG - DISCUSSION] the Pope's remarks

[Mike Miller <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

The Pope apologized today.  Some scholars are saying that it is the first 
time in the history of the papacy that a pope has issued a public apology. 
This article is interesting (requires free registration):

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/17/world/europe/17cnd-pope.html

I'm sure there are many more articles out there to be found.  The text of 
his apology is below.

It seems to me that he is trying to put it all on the quote from the 
medieval Persian guy.  There was more to it than that.  He led up to it 
with this gem:

   In the seventh conversation [text unclear] 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.

Which means to me that the Pope was saying that Mohammed was disingenuous 
(because he was powerless and under threat) when he claimed "There is no 
compulsion in religion" and that the truly violent nature of Mohammed's 
religion was expressed later in the Qur'an.  The Pope disagrees strongly 
with Mohammed's ideas about holy war, and he rejects the view of God that 
is held by many Muslims.  I think he was pretty clear on those issues and 
he hasn't retracted any of it.  I'm not saying that he should retract it, 
but let's not pretend that problems we're going to have with violent 
reactions to the Pope's speech are all due to misunderstandings from 
uneducated Muslims.  That isn't it.  The problem is that there are 
millions of Muslims who believe that anyone who publicly expresses 
reservations about their religion has "defamed" them and should be killed 
for it.

It would be comical if it weren't so horrible -- someone says "Islam is 
too violent" and thousands of Muslims errupt in violent protest.  It's 
almost like they want to say "your darned right we're violent!"

Meanwhile, angry Muslims are attacking various churches and have killed a 
nun in Mogadishu, Somalia (probably related to the Pope's speech but not 
certainly).

Mike


Dear Brothers and Sisters,

The pastoral visit which I recently made to Bavaria was a deep spiritual 
experience, bringing together personal memories linked to places well 
known to me and pastoral initiatives towards an effective proclamation of 
the Gospel for today.

I thank God for the interior joy which he made possible, and I am also 
grateful to all those who worked hard for the success of this pastoral 
visit. As is the custom, I will speak more of this during next Wednesday's 
general audience.

At this time, I wish also to add that I am deeply sorry for the reactions 
in some countries to a few passages of my address at the University of 
Regensburg, which were considered offensive to the sensibility of Muslims.

These in fact were a quotation from a Medieval text, which do not in any 
way express my personal thought.

Yesterday, the Cardinal Secretary of State published a statement in this 
regard in which he explained the true meaning of my words. I hope that 
this serves to appease hearts and to clarify the true meaning of my 
address, which in its totality was and is an invitation to frank and 
sincere dialogue, with great mutual respect.

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