Friday, September 15, 2006
If you hadn't noticed, the new (er, but also old) Pope got people all kinds of stirred up with a speech earlier this week. I've seen him quoted on International news sites, Christian sites, atheist sites, and while I haven't visited any (yet), I'll guarantee he's been talked about a ton on Muslim sites.
The most heated discussions are going on around the part of the speech where . . .
In his speech, Benedict quoted 14th-century Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologus who said, "Show me just what Mohammed 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."
Ummmm, if I may be so bold as to call out his holiness, I doubt that's a line that the head of the Catholic church has any business quoting if he means to condemn the practice of conversion by the sword. He's a poor historian indeed if he hasn't heard of the Crusades.
Conversion by the sword is a part of Protestant history as well, lest some of us get smug.
I am greatly grieved that both Islam and Christianity have chosen violence and compulsion as a means to spread their empires. It fails to produce true converts, it does untold damage to peoples' true faith in the meantime, and never accomplishes the goals of its leaders.
posted by Steve at 5:59 AM
link |
2 Comments:
-
commented at 12:15 AM~
Amen.
-
commented at 11:26 PM~
Yea, it's terrible what he said and i agree with you that he is not a good historian. Yet, the violence being perpetuated by some angry Muslims is only proving his point. It would behoove Muslims, in my opinion, to not react with violence. Being angry is ok, but violence is not.
Want to ?
back to main page
