From the Associated Press:
“Benedict quoted from a book recounting a conversation between 14th-century Byzantine Christian Emperor Manuel Paleologos II and a Persian scholar on the truths of Christianity and Islam.
“The Emperor comes to speak about the issue of jihad, holy war,” the Pope said. “He said, I quote, ‘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.”
OK - so there are passages in the Qu'ran that have to do with spreading the faith by the sword. Are there no such passages in the Bible? Does God not smite the bejeepers out of the enemies of the Israelites about a jillion times? Hey, let's try the opening of the Book of Judges: "After the death of Joshua, the Iraelites inquired of the Lord which tribe should attack the Canaanites first. The Lord answered, 'Judah shall attack. I hereby deliver the country into his power.'" I don't hear the Pope reading that tidbit (yet.) And how about Christians? I sat through plenty of Scripture readings about smiting and banishing and exterminating, and we won't even talk about the Book of Revelations, and its plagues, oceans of blood, and an eternity of sulphur for everyone except The Faithful (whoever that is).
Sure, there are Muslim extremists who take the passage from the Qu'ran literally. Have you ever met any non-Muslim extremists? Have you looked at beautiful downtown Beirut lately? D'ya think there have been any Christian extremists who think maybe they should spread the Christian faith with the sword? Ever heard of a guy named Richard the Lionhearted? Ever heard of Ferdinand and Isabella? Oliver freaking Cromwell? I could go on...
I have about the most aggressively Roman Catholic Italian surname on the planet. Guess what? The branch of ancestors who took that surname were formerly-Jewish conversos. Why did they become conversos? Because someone came to the door, sang a few Cantigas and sold them a Vulgate Bible? NO. They converted because a bunch of Renaissance wingnuts were "spreading their faith with their swords." Did it work? I don't know -- four hundred years and many generations later, my Italian grandfather still liked to kvetch about the Catholic Church, and told me one day that most religion was "all-a bullsheet." Spreading religion with the sword ultimately doesn't work, and I would venture to guess that the vast majority of Muslims on this earth believe that too.
One more thing: Did anyone notice that the Pope never mentioned the Persian Scholar's answer to Manuel Paleologos? Is anyone else wondering what it was??
