Politics
Get Over It
by Clay Staggs
I’ve been reading a lot recently about the furor in the Muslim world over the pope’s speech. For those who may not know, the pope gave a talk at Regensburg University in Germany. In it he said the following:
In the seventh conversation edited by Professor Khoury, the emperor touches on the theme of the jihad (holy war). The emperor must have known that surah 2, 256 reads: There is no compulsion in religion. It 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. Without descending to details, such as the difference in treatment accorded to those who have the “Book” and the “infidels,” he turns to his interlocutor somewhat brusquely with the central question on the relationship between religion and violence in general, in these words: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.The emperor goes on to explain in detail the reasons why spreading the faith through violence is something unreasonable. Violence is incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul.
God is not pleased by blood, and not acting reasonably is contrary to God’s nature. Faith is born of the soul, not the body. Whoever would lead someone to faith needs the ability to speak well and to reason properly, without violence and threats… To convince a reasonable soul, one does not need a strong arm, or weapons of any kind, or any other means of threatening a person with death….The decisive statement in this argument against violent conversion is this: not to act in accordance with reason is contrary to God’s nature.
The emperor to which the pope referred is Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologus. The conversation quoted happened in the 1300s between the emperor and an “educated Persian.” You can read the full text of the speech here.
Once this quote made its way around certain quarters of the Islamic world, riots ensued. Since then there have even been fire-bombings of churches (though not Roman Catholic ones).
This is most surely a sign of my fallen nature, but this is getting kinda old. I’m sick of seeing riots at the least little nothing of a perceived offense. It was just a 700 year old quotation, already.
I’m obviously coming at this from my own reformed viewpoint, but if muslims belive that they’ve had the truth of the universe revealed to them, they sure aren’t acting like it. What they are acting like is spoiled children.
The pope has apologized. I know there’s an argument to be made that this was the Christian thing to do. However, I really wonder whether it wouldn’t do the world a great favor for someone of the pope’s stature to just stand up and tell them to get over it. It seems to me that at some point, all of the world’s hypersensitivity just makes the problem worse.
Posted by Clay Staggs at September 17, 2006 04:56 PM
I believe that the molotov cocktails were lit before the statement was made.
Clay, I don’t think that the sworn enemies of Israel will ever, “Get over it.” What makes me more upset: is the Pope’s capitulation to a group of people that will be perennially and diametrically opposed to his own beliefs. In one sense, Christianity will always be offensive to those who do not believe. Case in point: Jesus’ claim to be the singular way to salvation in John 14:6: “I am the way, the truth, and the life— no one comes to the Father except through Me.” Now, that should offend the post-modern Muslim or anyone else, for that matter. Great post.
Well, it’s better to have it & not need it, than need it & not have it, I suppose…..
Tim,
I agree that the jihadists won’t ever “get over it.” What I’m speculating is that, somewhat like a spoiled child, the worst thing that the rest of the civilized world can do is to indulge their tantrums and walk on eggshells to avoid hurting their delicate sensibilities. That’s why I wanted the pope to say “get over it”; not thinking that it’d actually happen, but to demonstrate that we (especially Christians) won’t stop speaking truth just because they’re going to riot in the streets at the drop of a hat.
1) See Lee Harris’ discussion of the Holy Father’s speech on the Weekly Standard’s webpage. 2) Benedict was “sorry some were unhappy” I can find no reference to his apologizing for his words.