Category Archives: Religion

‘Benedict the Brave’

Islam, Religion

“Those capable of following a rational argument understood the significance and purpose of Pope Benedict XVI’s words at the University of Regensburg. He did not misspeak; he was not quoted out of context; and his controversial historical reference vis-Ã -vis the irrationality of Islam was not randomly selected or incidental to his central thesis (faith and reason). Although very much outside the consensus, the pope was as purposeful as he was plain spoken. That he was driven to retract the analytical truth at which he had arrived is an indictment of those who menaced him into a mea culpa…”

The complete column, “Benedict the Brave,” is here.

'Benedict the Brave'

Islam, Religion

“Those capable of following a rational argument understood the significance and purpose of Pope Benedict XVI’s words at the University of Regensburg. He did not misspeak; he was not quoted out of context; and his controversial historical reference vis-Ã -vis the irrationality of Islam was not randomly selected or incidental to his central thesis (faith and reason). Although very much outside the consensus, the pope was as purposeful as he was plain spoken. That he was driven to retract the analytical truth at which he had arrived is an indictment of those who menaced him into a mea culpa…”

The complete column, “Benedict the Brave,” is here.

Letter of the Week: Benedict the Brave

Islam, Religion, The West

During a trip to Germany, the Holy See touched on the topic of Jihad, in “an address about faith and reason” at Regensburg University. The Associate Press reports the following:

Citing historic Christian commentary on holy war and forced conversion, the pontiff quoted from a 14th-century Byzantine emperor, Manuel II Paleologos.
The emperor comes to speak about the issue of jihad, holy war, the pope said. He said, I quote, ‘Show me just what Muhammad 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.’
Clearly aware of the sensitivity of the issue, Benedict added, ‘I quote,’ twice before pronouncing the phrases on Islam and described them as ‘brusque,’ while neither explicitly agreeing with nor repudiating them.
‘The emperor goes on to explain in detail the reasons why spreading the faith through violence is something unreasonable,’ Benedict said.
‘Violence is incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul,’ the pope said, issuing an open invitation to dialogue among cultures.

So how do Muslims respond to western intellectuals who convolute about the values of dialogue and coexistence, while suggesting all may not be well with Islam? By rioting, of course, and calling for the heads of the offenders.

Letter of the Week is apropos, courtesy of Dennis O’Keeffe, PhD., Professor of Social Science at the University of Buckingham. Dennis, whom I had the pleasure of meeting at a Liberty-Fund conference, is also Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Economic Affairs:

Dear Ilana,

Have you heard that his Holiness is in trouble? For citing a Byzantine Emperor’s rebuke of Mohammed for claiming Divine endorsement of his campaign of conversion by murder and the sword. Having taught hundreds of Muslims at high school and university, I have no trouble saying that almost all of them were nice people. As with most populations the majority are good. We are going around in circles, however, if we do not notice that the Koran justifies religious conquest. If Muslims are offended by this, let them get together and have the kind of Reformation which was the precondition in the Christian case for Christians of different persuasions to stop murdering each other. Or dumping the faith would do. I suspect that this has become a more difficult option now, because of the protection of nonsense which multiculturalism bestows on backward religions. Twenty years ago it was quite common for Muslim students to tell lecturers like myself that they do not believe in Islam. Would they even dare to say it now? Would the curators of the national museum of Mexico City dare to say what the Aztecs were really like?

—Dennis

Oriana Fallaci, RIP

Islam, Religion, The Zeitgeist

Oriana Fallaci has died after a brave battle with cancer…and Islam. This is what I wrote some months back about Fallaci on Barely a Blog:

“Here’s an interview with Oriana Fallaci in The New Yorker that doesn’t do her justice. Fallaci is unique in the annals of journalism. No superlative can properly describe the kind of irreverent grilling she subjected her interviewees to. The clubby, tête-à -têtes journalists conduct with their overlords are a disgrace—they’ll never come close to Fallaci’s skin-them-alive inquisitions.
Omitted from this interview is how Fallaci began her exchange with Qaddafi. It approximates the following paraphrase: ‘So your manifesto is so small and insignificant it fits in my powder puff. Why should anyone take you seriously…?’
When I attended journalism school, my teachers held her up as the iconic role model to emulate (of course, this would be unheard of in the left-liberal, groupthink dominated journalism schools of today). Thus one of the nicest compliments I’ve ever received was Reginald Firehammer.s. In ‘The Passion of Principles,’ his review of my book for the Randian Free Radical, he likened my passion to Fallaci.s. The passion, perhaps, but never the courage, the life-force, or the capacity for adventure.
The New Yorker.s Margaret Talbot depicts Fallaci as pathologically anti-authoritarian. Is there any other way to be? Talbot, moreover, likes Fallaci’s classically liberal feminism, but flagrantly frames her crusade against Islam as a function of waning faculties. Yes, Fallaci is out of place in youth-worshipping America, where the lukewarm nonchalance of a Wonkette and her ‘Whatever’ Generation is considered the ideal intellectual and existential temperament.
It would, however, be a grave mistake not to heed Fallaci.s warnings. This [was] an immensely cultured woman, steeped in the past. She [understood] history and the forces that shape it. More material, she lived it.”