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Sometimes I can't help wondering who handles public
relations for the Moslem world, and whether he oughtn't to be fired for neglecting his job so badly.
Just recently there has been a major public scandal because Pope Benedict is said to have insulted Islam a few days ago by allegedly calling it an inhuman and violent religion. Offended Moslems are
taking assiduous care to disprove this slander by holding public demonstrations, burning the Pope in effigy, and attacking Christian churches. Morocco and Egypt have both recalled their ambassadors from the Vatican City,
something states normally do as a prelude to declaring war. That anybody could possibly think these actions would have any public relations impact on those of us in the
Dar al-Harb except to confirm our worst anti-Moslem prejudices is just baffling to me.
What makes this scandal so laughable is that the
Pope never actually accused Islam of being a violent religion. His remarks, in a speech entitled "Faith, Reason and the University: Memories and Reflections" are readily available on the Internet. It is easy to find them and read them. When
I did so, this is what I found.
In the first place, the whole public scandal is based
on a reference that Benedict makes in the third of sixteen paragraphs, to a dialogue written by one of the Byzantine
emperors back in the 14th century. And the only reason he refers to this dialogue at all is to introduce a compact
turn of phrase that shows up in it, one on which Benedict then hangs the rest of his speech. The emperor argues
that "not acting reasonably is contrary to God's nature"; and the whole point of Benedict's speech is a defense of the
role of hellenic (i.e. rationalistic, philosophical) theology in the thought of the West.
In what follows, the Pope engages figures like Immanuel
Kant, Blaise Pascal, Rene Descartes, and Adolf von Harnack. By contrast, he never actually engages Mohammed or
even St. Paul. His target (which he chides gently rather than attacking it) is modern scientific rationalism, for thinking
that it can get by without God. In the same way, but even more gently and subtly, he almost chides fideistic Protestantism
for thinking that it can get by without Reason and metaphysics. To see the speech as saying anything at all about Islam
-- pro, con, or indifferent -- is to miss the point in a magificent way.
But at any rate, now that Moslems are rioting
and pillaging in anger against the Pope for saying something he never said, we can be reassured -- directly, by these same
Moslems speaking for themselves -- that Islam is not really a violent religion and that its adherents are neither
cynical manipulative scoundrels nor ignorant illiterate fools. I know I'll sleep easier in my bed knowing all this.
How about you?
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