Interesting conversation over there on the valuation thread this weekend..What speaks to me most loudly, when I think about Pope Benedict's statement last week, is this: He's a human being who has lived through the Nazi's and then Communism in his homeland..those of us who post here, my guess is, have not lived through such treacherous times..heard about them perhaps from grandparents..even that's a bit removed since Americans went to fight and came back to America..So most here have heard about life in those days thru books, and people they may have encountered over the years..
My point, Mike..it's impossible for our generation of Americans to really know how folk like Benedict were shaped by their experiences..I would guess that at 80yo, and what he and his peers have been through, he can't not speak what is true for him..documented history is the witness re: his quote and sentiment he expressed thru it(imo)...
The Christians(actually, Catholics) have been facing their wretched past for a few decades now..the Crusades, Nazis, and most recently the sex abuse scandals..there is nobody in Catholoicism that would deny the negative aspects of its history..and that's the difference that I see with the Muslims who reacted so strongly..dialogue between both is impossible until the Muslims are ready to bring their history to the tableIMO!
What is most amazing and interesting to me about the bio-valuation conversation is that it's emblematic of how people who essentially want the same things out of life and are living responsible lives, can have such different views on the same situation..I know this is not an original thought!..
I have more to say but it's Sunday night..I did a load of replanting this w/e..ahhhhh, diggin' in the dirt-g-
Elisabeth |
