It's about time. They don't need a wimpy Pope.
Pope Benedict Exposes Islamic Extremism
CAPTAIN ED
By Ed Morrissey on War on Terror
Poep Benedict XVI has returned to the traditional role of defender of the faith yesterday by challenging the inflexibility of Islam, which will not set well with Muslims. He demanded the end of second-class status for Christians in Muslim nations, and also insisted that Muslims have the legitimate right to convert to Christianity without fear of execution:
"Benedict XVI attacked Muslim nations where Christians are either persecuted or given the status of second-class citizens under the Shariah Islamic law.
He also defended the rights of Muslims to convert to Christianity, an act which warrants the death penalty in many Islamic countries.
His comments came almost exactly a year after he provoked a wave of anger among Muslims by quoting a Byzantine emperor who linked Islam to violence.
Yesterday, near Rome, the 80-year-old pontiff made a speech in "defence of religious liberty", which, he said "is a fundamental, irrepressible, inalienable and inviolable right".
In a clear reference to Islam, he said: "The exercise of this freedom also includes the right to change religion, which should be guaranteed not only legally, but also in daily practice."
A year ago, Benedict aroused the ire of Muslims by repeating an old dialogue from centuries past as a way to warn against violent conversions. Hundreds of thousands marched in Muslim cities, demanding the death of Benedict, an ironic result of his call to non-violence in religious matters. After the murder of a nun in Somalia, Benedict apologized for offending Muslims, attempting to appease their anger.
Apparently, Benedict has given up on appeasement. In this speech, he gets far more direct than he did a year ago, demanding reciprocity from Muslims in very clear and pointed terms. His condemnation of Islamist terrorism will add to the sense of Benedict's challenge to Islam, which supports a similar challenge made a day earlier by a senior Church of England bishop regarding conversions.
Will Islam rise in indignation once again? Will they demand a retraction and an acknowledgement of Benedict's proper status as dhimmi once again, or failing that, call for his head? More importantly, will Benedict give them another apology and retract his statements as he did the last time when Muslim extremists get violent? Let's hope not, because Benedict actually hit the bullseye with these remarks.
A religion that has to kill its people for leaving it is one that has utterly failed intellectually. There is no difference between Islam's death sentence for "apostates" and the East German governments orders to shoot people attempting to cross the Berlin Wall. Once an authoritarian system -- religious, political, or economic -- has to resort to the threat of murder to keep people within it, they have lost the argument, and the system is near collapse.
Hard-line Islam has been exposed in the modern era as just such a system. As Ronald Reagan and Benedict's predecessor John Paul the Great demonstrated, though, it takes some courage and some pushing to start the collapse. That means speaking directly about the oppressive nature of that system, and to refrain from apologizing when speaking the truth. After all, that's really the first responsibility of a Pope -- to tell the truth and to remain courageous in its defense. |
