If you guessed “Muslims”, you’re right!
The Pope gave a speech on Tuesday that’s been described as an invitation to Muslims to join in dialogue about the irrationality of violence in the name of religion.
Unfortunately, he thought this invitation should include the following quote from a 14th century Byzantine emperor:
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.
RSVP by October 1st.
It doesn’t matter how eloquent or well-reasoned the rest of the speech was, you stick in a quote like that and you’re going to tick people off. Big time.
Turkish Reaction
The headline in pretty much all the Turkish papers today (online anyway) was Ali Bardakoglu’s response to the Pope’s comments. Ali Bardakoglu is the President of Religious Affairs in Turkey who I interviewed back in August. Here’s a blurb on his response in English and one in Turkish.
[UPDATE: A more complete report on reaction to the Pope's speech from around the Muslim world, including Turkey, is available in English here.]
Bardakoglu responded to the charge of Islam being linked to violence through Muhammad and the religion’s conceptualization of God by saying:
“If the Pope is looking for animosity and hatred…he should look at what the Church has done. If he’s looking for animosity, tears, and hatred, he should look at Christian history.”
I think most Turks who read Bardakoglu’s statements today let out a collective “touche!”
And unlike the writer of this optimistic editorial in a local PA paper, they don’t believe for a second that Pope Benedict was a “fresh voice clear[ing] the air for peace.”
Quite the opposite in fact.
3 comments ↓
Wow, did Bardakoglu actually read what the pope said?
According to media reports, Bardakoglu said:
“These were statements which were very unfortunate, both in the name of Christianity, and in the name of shared humanity.”
“I do not see any use in somebody visiting the Islamic world who thinks in this way about the holy prophet of Islam. He should first rid himself of feelings of hate,”
Bardakoglu also called on Pope Benedict to either retract or apologize for the statements.
Pope Benedict XVI. CITED Manuel II. Palaeologos in the context of a lecture in a university! How should he retract a citation that was made centuries before?
Does Bardakoglu not know this Emperor and that he was later beleagered by the muslims in Constantinople? This is Turkish history!
Or doesn’t he care to understand the point of the lecture?
Does he only read the polemic press releases of al Jazeera TV preacher Youssef al-Qaradawi and the head of the Muslim Brotherhood, Mohamed Mahdi Akef?
This is madness! and really disappointing…
The Pope elaborated on the central question about the relationship between religion and violence in general and he explained the position of the catholic church in history, before and after enlightment. Why doesn’t Bardakoglu respond to those theological questions? Why only isolate the citation and accuse the Pope publicly?
It makes one wonder about interreligious dialogue… scary.
lecture full text:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared.....6_pope.pdf
That even in the face of such radical scepticism it is still necessary and reasonable to raise the question of God through the use of reason, and to do so in the context of the tradition of the Christian faith: this, within the university as a whole, was accepted without question.
I was reminded of all this recently, when I read… of part of the dialogue carried on - perhaps in 1391 in the winter barracks near Ankara - by the erudite Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Paleologus and an educated Persian on the subject of Christianity and Islam, and the truth of both.
In the seventh conversation…the emperor touches on the theme of the holy war. Without descending to details, such as the difference in treatment accorded to those who have the “Book” and the “infidels”, he addresses his interlocutor with a startling brusqueness on the central question about the relationship between religion and violence in general, saying: “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 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.”
There is a very interesting text by Bardakoglu (german with english abstract, 2005):
http://www.kas.de/db_files/dok.....6888_1.pdf
It does touch the subject the Pope spoke about and shows that Bardakoglu should be able to perfectly understand the Pope’s speech.
In this text he writes (and he is not quoting somebody!) “the church … lost its principles” and “capitulated” vis a vis the “aggiornamento”.
I wonder what Bardakoglu would do if somebody wrote that about himself (the Diyanet lost the islamic principles… and “capitulated” vis a vis the west..)?
Would he publish a press release calling the statements “very unfortunate” and ask for an apology or maybe … rather indict the person at a turkish court?
Hi Maria,
Thanks for your comments and the links! I’ll be posting a response to your comments soon in the main section of the site.
Best,
Jim
Leave a Comment