Benedict is right
By Terence Jeffrey
Wednesday, September 20, 2006

A telling proof of the argument Pope Benedict XVI made at Regensburg University last week is that prominent Muslim critics claimed to embrace his basic point even as they strove to disprove the words of the 14th century Byzantine emperor the pope quoted.

The pope's point was not to critique Islam, but to make an observation about religious truth: It is consistent with reason.

"Show me just what Muhammad 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," the pope quoted Paleologus.

But then the pope said: "The emperor, after having expressed himself so forcefully, goes on to explain in detail the reasons why spreading the faith through violence is something unreasonable. Violence is incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul. 'God,' he says, 'is not pleased by blood -- and not acting reasonably is contrary to God's nature. Faith is born of the soul, not the body. Whoever would lead someone to faith needs the ability to speak well and to reason properly, without violence and threats. ... To convince a reasonable soul, one does not need a strong arm, or weapons of any kind, or any other means of threatening a person with death ... ."

Having presented the emperor's analysis, the pope asks: "Is the conviction that acting unreasonably contradicts God's nature merely a Greek idea, or is it always and intrinsically true?" The pope's answer: Always true. the rest