Comments on the Pope's Address

Last week the pope said this, and the response was this. In addition to violent protests around the world, churches have been burned in Palestine and an Italian nun was shot and killed in Somalia. Condemnation of the speech has been almost universal, although not all reactions have been violent, and not all protests have erupted in violence.

First, the Pope did not at any time say that he agreed with the emperor when he said that the only things that Islam brought to the world that are new are evil and inhumane such as forced conversions. He was using this quotation as context to make a point about the reasonable and rational nature of God. One of these points was that faith is a matter of the mind and heart, and threatening the body in order to provoke a conversion is evil because it goes against the character of God. Regardless of whether the Pope agrees with the emperor's statement as a whole, the Pope would certainly say (and I would agree) that it is evil and inhumane to force someone to convert to a particular religion using death threats. Furthermore, although the Koran discourages such a practice in some verses, it seems to encourage it in others. So, if Islam wanted to enter the global debate, and defend itself as a pure and righteous religion, it must do one of two things:

1) Explain to the world what these verses really mean, and how they do not encourage death threats as an acceptable means to encouraging conversion.
2) Explain how using death threats is not an evil and inhumane practice and how the Koran is correct in encouraging their use as a response to an evil and unfaithful world.

The global Islamic community has decided to completely deflect the issue by claiming to be offended and demanding an apology. Here's the problem: the Pope can't apologize until the Islamic community decides whether they are taking position 1 or position 2. Is the Pope to apologize for linking Islam with forced conversions? Or is the Pope to apologize for calling forced conversions evil? Perhaps a more moderate Muslim might say, "Well, I will be satisfied if he admits that not everything Islam brings to the table is evil, and not all Muslims are evil." The problem with the latter is that the Pope is a Christian, and as a Christian he believes in the doctrine of original sin, and under the doctrine of original sin the only human to walk this earth that cannot rightly be called evil is Jesus Christ. The problem with the former is that the Pope is a Christian, and as a Christian he does not believe that Mohammed was a prophet, and if Mohammed was not a prophet then he must have been a liar, and if he was a liar and Islam is a lie, then he is particularly evil for spreading a lie and Islam is evil because it's central elements are lies. You cannot think that Mohammed was a good man and a liar. You cannot think that Islam is a good religion and a lie. Certainly, the Pope could say that where Islam agrees with Judaism or Christianity it is good, but those things are not new. And the emperor said that what Islam brought that is new is evil. Personally, I do not know that Islam was the first religion to glorify forced conversions in their scripture, and I do not know whether Islam has brought anything new that is good and righteous. Since I do not know, the most I could say is that I do not necessarily agree with the Byzantine emperor, which the Pope has done. I would be dishonest if I said more. In fact, The only way that I might truthfully say that the emperor's words are necessarily not my own is if I were Muslim.

Lastly, does the Muslim community have any sense of irony? The Pope declares that it is against the character of God to try to force a rational decision through physical threats, and Islam has been guilty of this at many different times in history. The Muslim community responds by trying to force the Pope, using physical and political threats, to make a rational decision to convert his beliefs and retract his statement. They are trying to force the Pope to convert using physical threats! Don't they see the irony in this? The Pope has gone as far as he honestly can in his apology. If the Muslim community is demanding more, then they are demanding that he lie or convert to Islam so that his apologetic statements might be true. I doubt very strongly that the Pope has any intention of converting to Islam, and I pray that he has the strength of character and the support from the Vatican to refrain from committing intellectual dishonesty.