catholicsphere

The reaction in the Muslim world over the words of Pope Benedict XVI seem to prove the point that the Holy Father was making: “Violence is incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul.”

In his statements in Germany this week, it seemed clear that he was condemning violence in the name of God, saying “spreading the faith through violence is something unreasonable”.

Now, if you are not using violence to achieve God’s will, why would it upset you? And, why would the reaction be violent?

For those Mulims who do not react violently to such things, and who have not involved themselves in violent opposition to “infidels”, the comments certainly don’t seem to pertain to them. There seems nothing for them to worry about. However, when one looks at history, up to this very day, one finds good basis for the statements of the quoted emperor in the acts of Islamic extremists.

If there is indeed lack of understanding by the Pope (and the much of the Western world) of Islam, certainly the same criticism could be placed upon the Muslim understanding of Christianity and the Western world - particularly in some of the statements made by Muslim clerics, government officials, etc such as this from Salih Kapusuz, deputy leader of the Turkish prime minister’s party:

“He has a dark mentality that comes from the darkness of the Middle Ages. . . . It looks like an effort to revive the mentality of the Crusades.”

All this from a single comment within a statement that said that God’s will is not served through violence.

[tags]pope, christian, christianity, islam, muslim, crusades, news, violence, protest[/tags]