The quote from the Byzantine Emperor was a starting point for the Pope’s reflection on faith and reason. Specifically, whether acting in accordance with reason is contrary to God’s nature. Here is the rest of the quote from the Byzantine Emperor which the Loquitur and most of the media neglected to print.
“God is not pleased by blood, and not acting reasonably (“syn logo”) 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….”
Pope Benedict then goes on to say, “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 Pope used the quote from the Emperor to pose this question, “Is the conviction that acting unreasonable contradicts God’s nature merely a Greek idea, or is it always and intrinsically true?”
The Holy Father concludes that the synthesis between Greek inquiry and biblical faith did not happen accidentally, and examines logos (reason and word) as it pertains to the Gospels, the Catholic Church historically, other world religions, and secularism today.
It is quite clear after reading, actually reading, the entire transcript that the intent of the quote was not to offend Moslems, but to serve as a starting point for his talk on faith and reason. The Vatican has been against the Iraq War and called for restraint from Israel in their conflict with Lebanon. In the address Pope Benedict called for respectful dialogue between cultures at least three times, and since the address has apologized multiple times, which makes your headline extremely misleading. “Pope Benedict XVI owes Muslim community apology.”
Let’s look at the ironic reaction from the “religion of peace” to these apologies. An Italian nun was shot by Somali Moslems four times in the back as she uttered “I forgive, I forgive” with her last breaths, seven churches in the West Bank and Gaza Strip were bombed, and the Council on American-Islamic Relations condemned the comments by the pope, but did not condemn the violent reactions. Who really owes the apology here?
But let’s get to the bottom of what this whole controversy is really about. It’s not about the interpretation of a quote. This is an opportunity for radical Moslem leaders, who want to convert or kill all non-Moslems, to incite anti-western and anti-Christian sentiment. It is also an opportunity for many Americans, especially in the media who have contempt for the Church’s teachings on marriage, abortion and contraception to attack the legitimacy of the Catholic Church.
