I agree. It was actually a very scholarly speech, delivered to a scholarly audience. Everything he said was well-quoted, and attributed to the people who said it; none of it was his ideas alone. That said, what the Islamic community is overreacting to is that the sources he quoted really took a Medieval view of both Islam and Christianity. At that time, there was no real concept of "jihad," or holy war. He was quoting from periods before that perversion of the original ideas of the prophet had taken over the religion.
I'm *not* a fan of this Pope, but I read the whole speech and I think he didn't do anything wrong here. It's an overreaction by Muslims who have been brainwashed to believe that their prophet really taught them to wage holy war. In other words, as far as I can tell they're blasting the Pope for knowing more about the history of their religion than they do. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Irmeli Mattsson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > The Pope's recent speech the Muslims feel so agitated about is really > very good. It is about the old historical connection Christianity in > its essence has to reason due to strong Hellenistic influences from > the times of the inception of Christianity. He also mentions that this > adherence to reason has not always been a lived reality in > Christianity especially during the Middle Ages. He states that Europe > has got moulded to what it is nowadays under a strong influence of a > Christian religion that sees God revealing himself as logos. "In the > beginning was the logos, and the logos is God", declares Evangelist John. > In Islam the understanding the idea of likeness between our reason and > that of God's is missing. There God's transcendence and otherness are > so exalted that our reason, our sense of true and good are not an > authentic mirror of God. > > The link: > http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2006/september/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20060912_university-regensburg_en.html > > > Irmeli > To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
