My Letter to Pope Benedict

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palefrost

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Dear Ben:

Can I have some of your drugs? What on God's green earth were you thinking when you included, in your lecture to Catholic professors, a quote from the 13th Century Byzantium Emperor Manual II Paleogus: "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,"?????

Now, I've read your official explanation that you only quoted that odious passage to try to prove the point that religion and war don't mix well (though they have ever since YOUR church was founded). But you know, that's pretty damn subtle to put it charitably. And you've just got to figure that all subtlety is lost on a big group of true believers who riot over just freakin' cartoons of the Prophet. Jeez Louise, Ben! Even President Bush at his most radically conservative moments draws a huge distinction between radical Muslims and mainstream Islam. And he's never insulted the Prophet. Buy a clue, Ben.

And now aren't you in quite a pickle? You can't just go out and say "Oooops! I shouldn't have said that. I'm sorry." Nosirree Bob you can't. Because that would be tantamount to you saying you made a mistake. And that would just blow the hallowed doctrine of Papal Infallibility right out of the water, wouldn't it? And now that you're the Pope, I'll bet you like that doctrine just fine as it is.

I'll bet every Catholic living abroad is just real damn sorry about that Muslim reaction, too. Like the nun who was shot to death in Mogadishu . . . .

So here's some free advice, Ben. Ditch the present Vatican PR firm and hire some new guys to do a full court media press. I'll bet you could pick up Bill Clinton's spin team for just the tithes from this Sunday. Go out and bless a couple hundred thousand babies of all colors. Get some photo ops in leper colonies and cancer wards.

And for God's sake shut the fuck up will you?

Your friend,
pale
 
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I think the various problems lies somewhere in the conflation of the following:

* God is infallible.
* Faith reveals God.
* Man practices faith.
* Man communicates faith with others through religion.

Even if Pope Benedict is right, he's still got a long way to backpedal if he wants to avoid the charge of hypocrite. You're right- it would go a long way to salving the mistakes of the past if people were to just center their lessons on what they did wrong, and in doing so would acheive two things: repentance and constructive reform!
 
Some people are not going to like my reply and that is O.K. But this is exactly why I have such a problem with religion in general. I'm sorry but what he said is just the total opposite of the way we are supposed to live our lives according to the Catholic church. I cannot understand at all where he was coming from when he said this. You are right there is a big difference between the religion of Islam and radical Islam. Sorry I am just astounded that he would say this being the pope and all.
 
Heh, ideally, the only reason one should respect somebody for their position is not because of the power and influence they wield, but for the merits entailed in their deserving such a position. This is obviously an arbitrary process and often doesn't work very well, and thus I find status idolatry a little strange. Hence I don't find it surprising that Pope B. makes the statements he does from his general policy and attitude.

I agree, the problem with religion is that for the proper way it can bring fulfillment to people, it can be misused and abused to cause suffering. Judeo-Christian religious doctrine claims that this is not the fault of the religion, but because people have free will. How one chooses to treat that of course is up to them, but that also doesn't stop us from disapproving of 'wrongful' conduct.
 
A jihad is not conducive to the elements of god. In that god would not support violence as a means of spreading god's word and faith. That’s all he said really and he was right. No where does it say anywhere in Islam period that it supports mass murder terror and mayhem to spread Islam and to keep non believers at bay. Instead some have interpreted things that way and have made a whole sect that believes it.

But his mistake here was that he had the audacity to say it to the world. These people do not like to be reminded that what they are doing is indeed wrong. That there won’t be 37 virgins waiting for them in heaven after they strap that bomb to their chest and kill 50 people in a public place. They I feel are also pissed off because the Pope's message made sense and it might deter more ignorant naive young Muslims from deciding that a bomb on the chest is the way to go. These Jihad types are totally powerless without an army of morons to support them that will take over the planes and strap the bombs to themselves.

They in the end will be the destruction of Islam and all its believers. Cause if they plan to attack the Vatican that’s almost worse than drawing the ire of the United States. The US is governed by world politics and popular opinion. 1 Billion Pissed off Catholics on the other hand makes for one hell of a holy war.

Which i hope never comes to pass. But I honestly do not think these idiot Muslims even realize what they are doing.
 
I've said it before, I'll say it again. Nobody's gonna like it but I do not know if there is any way other than an inevitable mass holy war of sorts.
 
I'm not Catholic, and I have to say the whole idea of a Pope seems weird to me. Why do we need a human moderator to talk to God? Maybe someone can explain that to me.
 
Hmm good one Lyric, I consider myself a Christian, not a Catholic, and that does hit quite the nail...isn't there a sentence that say something along the line of "there is one mediator between man and God, Jesus Christ" :)
 
Let's look up the tenets of the Catholic faith in detail, shall we? I'm hardly familiar with this particular church.
 
The pope just seems to be doing a poor job. Especially when he is compared to his predecessor he simply falls short. I think his comments he has been making lately are only going to make the situation worse than it already was.
 
Yeah, it woul dbe hard for anyone to fill the shoes of the previous pope...everyone seemed to like him, even non-Catholics.
 
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I think a big part of that was due to the fact that he was well spoken, and tended to avoid statements such as the one made by Pope Benedict. It seemed to me like he held more of a better safe than sorry attitude.
 
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