- by Dr. Robert Moynihan
Benedict's meaning in his Regensburg speech has been misinterpreted by almost everyone -- by those who condemn him, but also by his defenders...
"They sow the wind, and reap the whirlwind."
--Hosea 8:7
"Ich hätte mir ein paar Worte der Differenzierung gewünscht. Zwei, drei Zeilen hätten viel bewirkt." ("I would have wished for a few words of clarification. Two or three lines would have accomplished a great deal.") -- Prof. Theodore Khoury, editor and translator of the book containing the dialogue of the Emperor Manuel II Paleologus with the Persian Muslim which Pope Benedict cited in his Regensburg speech September 12
Back in 1999, on May 14 in the Vatican, Pope John Paul II bowed as "a sign of respect" toward a copy of the Koran which was presented to him as a gift. When the book was officially "presented to him," the Pope (perhaps a bit perplexed concerning the appropriate protocol for such an official gesture) kissed it.
On September 12 in Regensburg, Germany, Pope Benedict XVI, in a lecture to 1,500 university professors and students, cited an obscure medieval emperor engaged in a dialogue with a Persian Muslim, as saying with regard to the Islamic faith, "Show me just what Mohammed 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."
We all know what happened next. Protests throughout the Islamic world, and in Europe, and in America (the New York Times "pontificated" that the Pope should immediately apologize for his remarks).
Sheik Malin of Somalia called for the Pope's murder. Churches were set on fire in the Holy Land. An Italian nun was shot to death in Somalia (though it was not clear that the shooting was related to the Pope's words).
In Iran, Islamic newspapers suggested there was an Israeli-US plot behind the Pope's words. The daily Jomhuri Islami said: "If we do not consider Pope Benedict XVI to be ignorant of Islam, then his remarks against Islam are a dictat that the Zionists and the Americans have written (for him)." Fellow hardline daily Kayhan, whose editor-in-chief is appointed by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said there were signs of Israeli interference aimed at creating conflict between Islam and Christianity.
In Israel, Jewish rabbi Shlomo Amar (the Chief Sephardi rabbi) weighed in, expressing sorrow over "the deprecating things said against Islam" by the Pope. "Our way is to respect all religions, nations and peoples according to their customs," Amar said.
And (last but not least) in the Vatican itself, a monsignor (anonymous) was cited as saying, "Under John Paul II, this would not have happened."
So the Pope was attacked by secular humanists (the New York Times), by conservative Muslims, by a leading Jewish rabbi -- and by monsignors in the Vatican itself.
Talk about being isolated.
Benedict had (in a sense) "sown the wind, and reaped the whirlwind."
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