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My Recent Posts · 01/06/06

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This is a little long, but worthwhile reading...

www.freedominion.ca/phpBB...hp?t=51928

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My Recent Posts · 01/07/06

I share B16's pessimism. He is right about the Koran. That is why Islamist radicals will not look into themselves or question their religion but look outside for enemies. Non-believers/infidels are not 'neighbors'. The land must be 'purified' for Islam. Most Westerners have never encountered hateful, almost 'murderous' looks of these radicals. When one has, one will realize the gravity of our situation.

My Recent Posts · 01/07/06

Thanks, Suzanne. This interview is very interesting.
I have the same opinion about Koran too.
The second problem is almost all muslims can't undrestand and live in the "secular state", which is typically founded by europe-american culture.
Hard to imagine religious freedom in society in which all components (e.g. law, politics, family life) are strictly subordinated to Koran and theologicians who Koran intepret.

And there is no such authority which can represent obligatory opinion of all or even majority of muslims.
I know that some leaders of islamic states seek to change strict approach of Islam towards Christianity or Judaism (e.g. Jordanian king Abdulah) but I don't know if there is even a small possibility to do it.

My Recent Posts · 01/07/06

The six most pertinent points Fr. Fessio reiterates:
1) There is not just one leader and interpreter of Islam; but a numerous "many": as opposed to Roman-Catholicism which has the Pope and the Magisterium.
2) The Muslims see the "Koran" as a LAW that cannot be adapted or applied. Woman are second-class, totally subserviant to men, physically as well as mentally suppressed; and many Muslim are polygamous. All this is in conflict with Christianity.
3) The West is killing itself in a few generations, if it does not change from a a totally secular, self-gratifying, commercial society, by not procreating, and abandoning "spirituality".
After all: homosexuals do not procreate, abortionists kill new-offspring, the far-left do not think it right to bring children into an "overpopulated" world....And the Muslims can exploit this as they're being an "alternate" spirituality to the West which has lost all its spirituality....
4) Democracy cannot be imposed on everyone.
Our Papa has stated, concerning the "fundamental rights of man":
"Not every society has the sociological presuppositions for the sort of party-based democracy that exists in the West...." and further on in his "Europe in the Crisis of Culture" states:
"Admittedly, the positve philosophies contain important elements of truth. But these elements are based on a self-limitation of reason typical of a given cultural situation---that of the modern West---and as such cannot be reason's last word. Although they appear to be totally rational, they are not the voice of reason itself, but are themselves culturally bound; bound, that is, to the situation of today's West. They are, then, not at all the philosophy that, one day, might rightfully claim validity thoughout the whole world...."
5) THE ONE ETERNAL-LOVE:
Roman-Catholicism is the only position that embodies the fact of "creative" truth as a REALITY in Jesus Christ, the Logos; and therefore can help to remedy our sick and alienated world: through an understandable, permanent and sustainable "brotherhood of mankind" [with a true, future-hope in a just and peaceful Savior of all Mankind] actively participating in Him through the Holy Eucharist which indeed gives this promise to all who partake of Him.
(No man-made, self-serviant, policy can accomplish a cure. No "fundamentalist" philosophy can cope with "modernity" and the world situation of all aeges, particularly of "today"..."a tree without roots, withers....")
6) Fr. Fessio further explained:
The most important clarification is that the Holy Father did not say, nor did I, that Islam is incapable of reform. [...] I made a serious error in precision when I said that the Koran cannot be adapted or applied and that there is no possibility of adapting or interpreting it. This is certainly not what the Holy Father said. Of course the Koran can be and has been interpreted and applied. I was making a (too) crude summary of the distinction which the Holy Father did make between the inner dynamism of the Koran as a divine text delivered as such to Mohammed, and that of the Bible which is both the Word of God and the words of men inspired by God, within a community that contains divinely appointed authorized interpreters (the bishops in communion with the pope).
Fr. Fessio adds that language difficulties were also involved:
The meeting was an informal one of the Holy Father and his former students. The presentation and the discussion were in German, and the Holy Father was not speaking from a prepared text. My German is passable, but not entirely reliable. My later remarks in a live radio interview were extemporaneous. I think that I paraphrased the Holy Father with general accuracy, but my mentioning what he said at all was an indiscretion, and my impromptu paraphrase in another language should not be used for a careful exegesis of the mind of the Holy Father.
In essence:
I would like to set the record straight and avoid unnecessary embarrassment to the Holy Father. The truth is always crucial, but especially so here where the stakes are so high. I am disconsolate that I have obscured the truth by my ambiguous remarks.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
On the 17th January, Fr. Toll also intervened to clarify the Popes thought, in a letter to Daniel Pipes.
Here it is:
I took part in the seminar that Fr. Fessio mentions and I happen to be the person who presented the paper about Fazlur Rahman referred to by him.
I can only say that the reported remark of the Holy Father, among others, points to the well-known point of essential difference between classic mainstream Muslim and classic mainstream Catholic theology concerning the Word of God and of revelation/inspiration. It also suggests that Muslim theological thinking must deal with the weight of this deep-rooted faith conviction and the theological vision it continues to shape.
However, I cannot remember at all the Holy Father having said the words reported at the end of the indented paragraph in D. Pipes's report, The Pope and the Koran, that There's no possibility of adapting it or interpreting it.
The Holy Father is well-informed enough to know that there have existed and that there exist today, probably increasingly, other interpretations of the Qur'anic evidence with regard to a theology of revelation. These considered Muslim views and approaches do not (yet?), it would seem, inform the thinking and approach of a sizable Islamic movement or organisation and we do not know what future problems lie ahead in this regard but it does exist and is vividly discussed in many places, both in academia and beyond.
An open debate on these matters does not yet seem to be possible within the Arab world but Turkish and Indonesian society grant relatively more room for airing and discussing such ideas, and the so-called Western countries offer even more space.
Recently, I published Progressives Denken im Zeitgenssischen Islam (Critical Survey on Progressive Thinking in Contemporary Islam), Islam und Gesellschaft, Nr. 4, that looks at such religious thinking. The German original (and the English translation of it) are available from Franziska Bongartz, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung. D-10785 Berlin, Hiroshimastr. 17, e-mail: Franziska.Bongartz@fes.de.

Finally, on the 24th of January 2006, Professor Stephan Horn, from Germany, a member of the Society of the Divine Savior and coordinator of the Ratzinger-Schlerkreis, the group composed of the present Popes former students, wrote to Chiesa-on-Line:
Dear Sandro Magister, regarding the private (not secret) meeting of the Ratzinger-Schlerkreis with the Holy Father I confirmed the correction which Father Joe Fessio sent to the editor of the Wahington Times. Your contribution Islam and Democracy also is in need of correction. The topic of the gathering was not Islam and Democracy. Speaking about the contribution of Prof. Troll, Father Fessio referred to the proposal of a certain muslim theologian to explain the Koran to the modern western world. Doing this Father Fessio explained this to the participants of the Hugh Hewitt Show using also the word democracy. He alluded to a contribution made by the Holy Father which is in fact a theological topic: the difference of the concept of revelation in the Koran and in Christian revelation. So your article gives an erroneous impression to the reader regarding the thought of the Holy Father. Respect for the Holy Father and for the truth obliges me to offer this correction of your presentation, in the name of the Ratzinger-Schlerkreis.

"I have a mustard- seed; and I am not afraid to use it."
[Ratzinger:"Salt of the Earth"]

May Our Papa's radiant-light continuously shine forth to illuminate Christ for the world!

My Recent Posts · 01/08/06

This article, by journalist Orianna Fallaci, who met with Pope Benedict in summer 2005 at Castel Gandolfo, is interesting for her assessment of the conflict between radical Islam and the culture of the West.

It is entitled A Sermon for the West

"From Afghanistan to Sudan, from Palestine to Pakistan, from Malaysia to Iran, from Egypt to Iraq, from Algeria to Senegal, from Syria to Kenya, from Libya to Chad, from Lebanon to Morocco, from Indonesia to Yemen, from Saudi Arabia to Somalia, the hate for the West swells like a fire fed by the wind. And the followers of Islamic fundamentalism multiply like a protozoa of a cell which splits to become two cells then four then eight then sixteen then thirty-two to infinity. Those who are not aware of it only have to look at the images that the TV brings us every day. The multitudes that impregnate the streets of Islamabad, the squares of Nairobi, the mosques of Tehran. The ferocious faces, the threatening fists. The fires that burn the American flag and the photos of Bush."

"The clash between us and them is not a military clash. Oh, no. It is a cultural one, a religious one. And our military victories do not solve the offensive of Islamic terrorism. On the contrary, they encourage it. They exacerbate it, they multiply it. The worst is still to come."

www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=5487

My Recent Posts · 01/09/06

From Spengler in the 10th January edition of The Asia Times:

Islam is the unexploded bomb of global politics. US foreign policy - the only foreign policy there is, for the United States is the only superpower - proceeds from the hope that a modern and democratic Islam will emerge from the ruins of Saddam Hussein's Iraq. Through democratic institutions, Washington believes, the long-marginalized Shi'ites will adapt to religious pluralism. Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani's Islam, fixed in amber since the High Middle Ages, will metamorphose into something like American mainline Protestantism. ...

Now Pope Benedict XVI has let it be known that he does not believe Islam can reform. This we learn from the transcript of a January 5 US radio interview with one of Benedict's students and friends, Father Joseph Fessio, SJ, the provost of Ave Maria University in Naples, Florida, posted on the Asia Times Online forum by a sharp-eyed reader. For the pope to refute the fundamental premise of US policy is news of inestimable strategic importance, yet a Google News scan reveals that not a single media outlet has taken notice of what Fessio told interviewer Hugh Hewitt last week. No matter: still and small as Benedict's voice might be, it carries further than earthquake and whirlwind.

www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HA10Ak01.html

My Recent Posts · 01/11/06

...."From Egypt to Iraq"....

Of Oriana Falacci's views I agree in the main part - she is clearly right to warn of the dangers of militant Islam, which is most definitely NOT a cuddly religion. However, having been a tourist twice (briefly) in Egypt I would like to put in a kind word for the Egyptian people. They are very friendly and hospitable and often put Westerners to shame in that department. Floating down the Nile on a river cruiser last week, we saw scenes straight from the Bible: reeds, mudbrick houses, sheep and goats together - and people washing their linens in the river. When they saw us they waved and shouted 'hello' in English, or 'welcome to Egypt!'. These people of course know that they need tourists for their economy to survive, but they do work very hard to make visitors feel welcome and valued.

Moslem women in Egypt can have careers and do not have to wear a headscarf - though this is true mostly of the north. My daughters were spat at by Saudi women (in full burkas) in the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, but nothing like that has happened in Egypt.

In Aswan there is a large and imposing new Christian (Coptic) cathedral.

Egypt certainly has fanatical Moslems but I would not be surprised if England has as many, if not more. The militant 'cleric' Abu Hamza, now wanted by the Americans for hate crimes, is on trial in Britain - the Egyptian government wants him too but he won't be repatriated to his home country as they have the death penalty and Hamza is suspected of losing his hand and eye in a bomb that killed at least one child. This man avoided his initial appearance in an English court by claiming his toenails were too long and he couldn't walk. We swallowed this nonsense - for years this man has received social security money, free housing, a special car adapted for his needs, and has at least five children for whom he claims benefits...... who is really to blame here?

My Recent Posts · 01/17/06

FrontPage Magazine on the Fessio interview.

Islam and Muslims are expected to be a priority for Pope Benedict XVI, but he has been publicly quite muted on these topics during his first nine months in office. One report, however, provides important clues to his current thinking.

Father Joseph D. Fessio, SJ, recounted on the Hugh Hewitt Show the details of a seminar he attended with the pope in September 2005 on Islam. Participants heard about the ideas of Fazlur Rahman, a Pakistani-born liberal theologian (1919-88 ) who held that if Muslims thoroughly reinterpret the Koran, Islam can modernize. He urged a focus on the principles behind Koranic legislation such as jihad, cutting off thieves hands, or permitting polygyny, in order to modify these customs to fit todays needs. When Muslims do this, he concluded, they can prosper and live harmoniously with non-Muslims.

Pope Benedict reacted strongly to this argument. He has been leading such annual seminars since 1977 but always lets others speak first, waiting until the end to comment. But hearing about Fazlur Rahmans analysis, Fr. Fessios recalled with surprise, the pope could not contain himself:

www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=20929

My Recent Posts · 01/17/06

Thanks for this article, Benodette. I've read this story somewhere else, but without much commentary with regard to Pope Benedict's remarks on the nature of the Koran. Let's hope the author of this article is right in his view that the understanding of the Koran can (and will in future) be seen in the historical context of its reception in terms of Mecca and Medina!

My Recent Posts · 01/17/06

To Muslims, the Koran is a one-fell-swoop revelation of Allah. It is holy and inviolable. Read the first paragraph of the Koran and you will know what I mean.

Contrast that with the Bible's first paragraph on "Creation", the creativity of a Lord, his beloved creation and the GOODness of it all. It is, therefore, no wonder that Christians can think out of the box and are creative people.

As to Islam being not a 'cuddly' religion, observe the absence of music in the religion. As George Steiner remarked in his book "Real Presence" (meaning of GOD in the arts, literature, music etc), the matter of music is central to the meaning of man and his metaphysical experiences. Can one imagine Mozart's music being used to promote the Nazi agenda? I am sure many of you can sense the transcendence of GOD (or even the demons in Beethoven's) in music. Islam is a 'harsh' ascetic faith. If it has a creation like Mozart, it might have been very different.

Islam came some 600 years after Christianity. It does not have the softer arts like music, visual art (sculpture, paintings of living creatures), stage craft (like comedies, tragedies, operas) and even food recipes. If you have a Muslim neighbour, how much can you connect with him/her???

Cheers to all

My Recent Posts · 01/17/06

As to Islam being not a 'cuddly' religion, observe the absence of music in the religion. . . . Islam came some 600 years after Christianity. It does not have the softer arts like music, visual art (sculpture, paintings of living creatures), stage craft (like comedies, tragedies, operas) and even food recipes. If you have a Muslim neighbour, how much can you connect with him/her???

I have several Muslim friends, and through them I am somewhat acquainted with Islamic music. (I also "connect" with them pretty well, and have enjoyed their food and (gasp!) recipes. I also dine out regularly at a local Pakistani-Indian restaurant, the owner of which is Muslim. I enjoy their vegetable jalfrezi.

A common form is the dihkr (or zikr) -- chanted repetition of a name or names of God or a short phrase such as La ilaha ill Allah (There is no god but God). See this link for more on Islamic art, music and architecture.

Latif Bolat is one of my personal favorites, a traditional Turkish composer, with music as gentle and beautiful in its way as Mozart.

Islam, like some forms of Christianity, has as of late embraced some distinctly 'Western' forms of music -- hip hop, for instance. But it also has a heritage of traditional music.

Look, I perceive militant Islam to be a grave danger and threat to the West -- see this interview with Fr. Fessio.

But at the same time, I do find it irksome if in defending Christianity we have to make rash judgements about "the absence of music in the religion" -- a claim easily refuted by some easy Googling or a visit to the local library, or encountering some Muslims in real life if such is possible. (It wasn't for me growing up in a small town in the South; New York city provided the opportunity).

My Recent Posts · 01/18/06

If "architecture is frozen music" then Islamic culture certainly has "musicians" to rival Mozart and Beethoven. Just think of such gloriously elegant structures as the Alhambra in Granada, the Mezquita in Cordoba, the Taj Mahal in Agra and the Amber Palace in Jaipur. To continue the music/architecture metaphor, the overwhelming grandeur of St. Peter's Basilica looks like Wagnerian or Carl Orffian bombast by comparison.

I agree with Christopher that a critique of the Moslem faith is probably best made by examining their doctrinal flaws rather than their supposed lack of artistic talent or personal "cuddliness." They are human beings too, who, however misguided or evil some may be, suffer like us Christians and experience feelings of joy like we do. Let us never forget that we are all brothers and sisters, and that Jesus exhorted us to reach out in His name to those who are "other," even if doing so is very very difficult.

The release of Mehmet Agca last week had the fortunate consequence that all media reprinted photos of Pope John Paul sitting in Agca's cell. It might be worthwhile to meditate on what the pope was teaching us there.

My Recent Posts · 01/18/06

I said that Militant Islam is not a 'cuddly religion'

My Recent Posts · 01/18/06

Islamic architecture is certainly beautiful. I have travelled to many countries with glorious Islamic shrines like Uzbekistan, Pakistan, China, Indonesia, India, Syria, Jordan and Egypt. I have no issue with this at all.

Much of the Islamic music in Southeast Asia pertain to the Sufi branch. Maybe I should make myself clear that I am referring to the Wahabi Islamic form. In Thailand and Indonesia, Wahabi Islam has made much inroads due to Saudi sponsorship. I live amongst Muslims in these societies and have noted noticeable changes in their behaviour and cultural nuances. Where once the Malays would flaunt their beautiful dances and music at weddings and happy celebrations, there is a noticeable absence and silence. Things have become 'religious'. I know of Malays who used to visit non-Muslim homes to enjoy Celine Dion etc but who have stopped doing so. Where once 'shadow' puppeters performed, they have stopped because these are now considered unIslamic. Whereas non-Muslims have ease sitting down to enjoy a good meal with Muslims in a Muslim home or restaurant, it is no longer so the other way round. I have a Chinese friend who has been married to a Muslim for 20 years. They used to visit us for meals (we do not serve halal food but nonetheless pork is not served) but have stopped doing so citing religious reasons.

My point is : the lines or common areas of social and cultural interaction with Muslims seemed to have diminished. The non-Muslims are reaching out to the Muslims but things have become difficult. Sensitivities seemed to lurk just below the surface. As to doctrinal flaws in the militants' thinking, I believe all those CNN commentators are terribly wrong every time they say :"The US-led war against terrorism". This is an ideological, theological issue and is best led by the best responsible Muslim religious leaders and theologians.

My Recent Posts · 01/20/06

The Taliban banned music and dancing, even at weddings.

My Recent Posts · 01/23/06

Cardinal Ratzinger spoke at the conclusion of the International Theological Congress in Madrid 18th February 2000. His address was entitled "Faith, Truth and Culture." At a press conference before his lecture a journalist asked:

Lately we have observed, in a very graphic way, the difficulties in the relationship between Christianity and Islam. Is it possible that the different conception of the connection between faith and reason in Christianity and Islam lies at the heart of this difficulty?

Ratzinger responded:
This is a very hard question. It is true on one hand that Christianity has always considered itself to be the true religion, that is, open to reason, and on the other that Islam considers itself perfectly reasonable, but the concept of reason is different. Even the concept of God's action is different. For example, the Koran is considered to be a word that comes immediately, as such, directly from God, without human mediation. While for us, the Sacred Scripture evolved out of God's history with His people, with the mediation of man's response to God, involving man in God's action. This is only an example of how, while having many elements in common, there is a profound difference in the foundations of the two realities. Any dialogue must certainly appeal to reason and try to see how reason can help us in this dialogue. A great deal of patience is needed so that, in profound allegiance to the Revelation and the openness that this generates, we can leave it to the Lord to mark out the path for this dialogue.

My Recent Posts · 01/23/06

Dr Khaled Abou El Fadl, a professor of Islamic law at UCLA and Bush appointee to the US Commission on International Religious Freedom discussed his new book "The Great Theft : How to wrestle Islam from the extremists" with a Singaporean journalist and the interview was published today (23 Jan 2006).

Question :So there were other influences in Southeast Asia, both cultural and environmental, which allowed a more tolerant and diverse Islam to emerge and flourish?

Answer : Of course. I'll give you a simple example. Islam in SEA is full of music. When I visited Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia, there were events held in my honour, and singers were invited. Now, it is inconceivable in the Arab world that a Muslim scholar would be celebrated by music. The denial of music is a new thing, and is influenced by Wahabism, which condemns music because it excites the imagination. In Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia, Islam is full of music and beauty and expressions of intoxications for the Divine. In fact, if it hadn't been for the Sufis and their ecstasies and the expression of it through various means, especially in music and poetry, I doubt very much whether Islam would have spread in that part of the world.

Question : But there is a growing fear that the harsh "Bedouin Islam" of Arabia is making inroads in this region.

Answer : When I was in the region last year, every scholar that I spoke to, every official I spoke to, said their main concern was that they have these groups that are funded by Saudi Arabia, whose officials come in and say lots of the local practices are haram, vis-a-vis music, poetry and art are haram.

I will give you two minor examples. In Wahabi Islam, women may not visit graves (presumably under the belief that they might be preyed upon while emotionally vulerable). And clapping in appreciation is haram. All this is unique to Wahabi Islam.

(As this article is accessible by subscription only, I am typing out only a very short extract from a hardcopy) (Apart from SEA, I think Bangladesh might turn out to be the next extremist hotspot. It is a small country but with a population of 140 million Muslims and extremist elements of Islam are already working the ground).

My Recent Posts · 01/23/06

Sandro Magister returns to the Fessio interview, and offers an interpretation of ratzinger's words from a different viewpoint.

Joseph Ratzinger has written little on the topic of Islam over the years. But it is a topic very much on his mind, and all the more so since he became pope. Last September, in Castelgandolfo (see photo), Benedict XVI dedicated two days of study to Islam, behind closed doors, together with two experts in Islamic studies and a group of his former theology students.

The news of the meeting leaked out, but until last January 5 nothing was known about what was said there.

But on January 5, one of Ratzingers former students who participated in the meeting, American Jesuit Joseph Fessio, provost of Ave Maria University in Naples, Florida, and founder of the publishing house Ignatius Press, gave an ample account of the meeting during one of the most popular radio talk shows in the United States: the Hugh Hewitt Show.

During the interview, Fr. Fessio also reported the thoughts expressed by the pope in the course of the discussion. In Fessios view, Benedict XVI holds that Islam and democracy cannot be reconciled.

But one of the other participants at the meeting, Samir Khalil Samir, an Egyptian Jesuit and professor of Islamic studies at the Universit Saint-Joseph in Beirut and at the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome, when consulted by www.chiesa, gave a different interpretation of the popes thought. In Fr. Samirs view, Benedict XVI holds that it is very difficult, but not impossible, to reconcile Islam and democracy.

In his contribution to the discussion, the pope supposedly wanted to explain precisely the reasons for this difficulty. ...

So, according to Fr. Fessios account, Benedict XVI sees Islam as incompatible with democracy.

But according to another participant at the same meeting, Jesuit scholar of Islamic studies Samir Khalil Samir, the pope is less pessimistic. According to this account, the pope sees a meeting between Islam and democracy as possible, but on the condition of a radical reinterpretation of the Koran and of the very conception of divine revelation.

On the second day of the discussions in Castelgandolfo, speaking as an expert, Fr. Samir developed precisely this aspect of the question.

This is not a merely theoretical dispute. Each of these interpretations has significant geopolitical repercussions. Americas overall strategy in Iraq and the greater Middle East is founded precisely upon the possibility of democracys birth and growth in those Muslim regions.

It also involves the future of Muslim immigrants in Europe. An Islam reconciled with democracy would allow their integration. An Islam incapable of distinguishing between God and Caesar would trap them in a state of alienation.

www.chiesa.espressonline.it/dettaglio.jsp?id=45084&eng=y

My Recent Posts · 01/26/06

From Sandro Magister

Castelgandolfo Revisited: The Jesuits Come to the Popes Defense

Fr. Fessio agrees with his fellow Jesuits Troll and Samir. And he testifies together with them that, for Benedict XVI, Islam is capable of reform and can be harmonized with modernity. But at a steep price.

ROMA, January 26, 2006 A few hours after the previous article on Benedict XVI and Islam was published online by www.chiesa, the contrasting interpretations over the popes thought were smoothed out.

The disagreement hinged upon whether or not Islam can be reformed, and consequently upon the relationship between Islam and modernity.

The American Jesuit Joseph Fessio who participated, together with other former students of Joseph Ratzinger, in a meeting with the pope for the purpose of studying the concept of God in Islam had said in a radio interview on January 5 that, at the meeting, the pope had asserted that Islam and modernity cannot be reconciled.

But other participants at the meeting Jesuit Islamic studies scholar Christian W. Troll, from Germany, and Samir Khalil Samir, an Egyptian gave a different version of the popes thought. According to their testimony, Benedict XVI had judged the reconciliation of Islam and modernity as very difficult, but not impossible.

The popes drastic view on the impossibility of reform within Islam as it was related previously by Fr. Fessio did not pass by unnoticed in the United States. There were lively discussions on the online forums of The Asia Times and The National Review, and there were comments from two famous columnists: Daniel Pipes, in the January 17 issue of The New York Sun, and Diana West, in the January 20 issue of The Washington Times.

Meanwhile, the other version that of fathers Troll and Samir received little attention.

But this is the version that more correctly conveyed the popes thought, as Fr. Fessio himself now acknowledges.

In a January 20 letter to The Washington Times, and in a January 23 message to www.chiesa, Fr. Fessio admits having misrepresented what the Holy Father actually said. He acknowledges that Samir Khalil Samirs recollection is accurate. And he explains:

The most important clarification is that the Holy Father did not say, nor did I, that Islam is incapable of reform. [...] I made a serious error in precision when I said that the Koran cannot be adapted or applied and that there is no possibility of adapting or interpreting it. This is certainly not what the Holy Father said. Of course the Koran can be and has been interpreted and applied. I was making a (too) crude summary of the distinction which the Holy Father did make between the inner dynamism of the Koran as a divine text delivered as such to Mohammed, and that of the Bible which is both the Word of God and the words of men inspired by God, within a community that contains divinely appointed authorized interpreters (the bishops in communion with the pope).

Fr. Fessio adds that language difficulties were also involved:

The meeting was an informal one of the Holy Father and his former students. The presentation and the discussion were in German, and the Holy Father was not speaking from a prepared text. My German is passable, but not entirely reliable. My later remarks in a live radio interview were extemporaneous. I think that I paraphrased the Holy Father with general accuracy, but my mentioning what he said at all was an indiscretion, and my impromptu paraphrase in another language should not be used for a careful exegesis of the mind of the Holy Father.

In essence:

I would like to set the record straight and avoid unnecessary embarrassment to the Holy Father. The truth is always crucial, but especially so here where the stakes are so high. I am disconsolate that I have obscured the truth by my ambiguous remarks.

www.chiesa.espressonline.it/dettaglio.jsp?id=45185&eng=y

My Recent Posts · 02/06/06

LONDON, February 5 (IranMania) - Iran's Ambassador to Vatican Mohammad-Javad Faridzadeh has called on Pope Benedict XVI to comment on the blasphemous moves in sections of the western press targeting Islam, said IRNA.

Certain sections of the European press, including those from Denmark and France, have in the past days printed cartoons deemed offensive of Islamic sanctities.

In a letter, faxed to IRNA Rome bureau, Faridzadeh recalled the statement of the pope on his election as the world's Catholic church leader that Muslims do not feel threatened by spiritual Christian bodies.

He called on the pope to stress the spiritual aspects of western culture and make it clear to all that the real danger threatening today's world is not only weapons of mass destruction but rapid expansion of nihilism.

www.iranmania.com/News/ArticleView/Default.asp?NewsCode=40264&NewsKind=Current%20Affairs

My Recent Posts · 02/06/06

Have you seen these cartoons? I have (there's a link to them in the Volokh blog discussed below), and they're pretty innocuous compared to much of what is considered acceptable to print using images of Christianity. I'm not sure where the "nihilism" that the Iranian Ambassador speaks of comes in. OK, we don't have a rule that prohibits depictions of Jesus (thank God), so perhaps we're not as sensitized to the "outrage" one would feel as a practicing Muslim. However, I do believe that a free press should, within reasonable boundaries of good taste, be allowed to satirize "sacred cows" (including Muslim ones) without being exposed to death threats or having their country's consulates torched. Self-censorship based on fear is perhaps even worse than official censorship.

Dr. Navarro-Valls' statement on the Vatican's position 212.77.1.245/news_service.../d3_en.htm has come in for criticism from serious scholars of the First Amendment for the implied suggestion that "under the position the Vatican sets forth, large zones of religious debate, political debate, and art would be outlawed." volokh.com/archives/archi...1139182381
(Eugene Volokh is a respected UCLA libertarian-inclined law professor, who has pubished widely on speech issues.)

Any thoughts from the forum members (who are all beneficiaries of the right to freedom of expression) on this issue?

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