The Pope’s words - pot and kettles and blackness

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September 15, 2006· Filed Under Italy, World News  Tags:

Oh dear, the Pope seems to have got himself in trouble with the Muslims over a quotation he chose to use when talking about the historic relationship between Christianity and Islam.

Muslims seem to have got all hot and bothered and the press is throwing lots of coals into the fire. But why all the fuss? Having read the Pope’s words, briefly, it seems that the general point being made is that spreading faith, any faith, through violent means is not on. OK, but I’m not sure the Roman Catholic church really has the right to say this seeing as in the past it most certainly advocated violence in the name of God, though the use of violence was not openly indicated by the Bible, whereas it does seem to be with regards to Islam - however, one could argue that Mohamed did not really mean a sword in the literal sense, but he referred to the commitment with which Muslims should spread the word. Not much different from Christianity. In the centuries leading up to now those advocating Christianity have certainly not followed a bloodless path. Interestingly the Pope makes no reference to the violent means condoned by the Catholic church over the years, or have I missed something. Hence the title of this entry.

In my book blowing people up because they are not the same religion as you is the same as beating up someone because they don’t support the same football team as you. Bloody pointless.

If the religious leaders of the world were really clever, they would find documents which stated that any and all violence against anyone would mean no road to paradise. With no exceptions. Indeed they do not even need the documents. A little bit of intelligent ‘interpretation’ would suffice. Will they do this? Nah. Why not? Not sure. Perhaps they know that humanity is intrinsically violent and that a ban on violence would be utterly ignored, leaving the different religions with lots of egg on their faces.

With hindsight, maybe the Pope should have chosen his words more carefully. Or maybe he secretly likes the idea of the good old days of the crusades all over again. They do say he is super conservative. Frightening thought.

Our little one starts nursery school next week, but we both opted for zero religious education classes, especially seeing as they focus on the Roman Catholic church. I am not against my son becoming religious, but I want him to make his own mind up, at just over three religious education is more indoctrination than education in my opinion. My son can choose whichever religion he wants or choose not to follow any religion if that’s what he wants. I just hope the religion he decides to follow is not football, that’s all. A vain hope in Italy.

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Comments

7 Responses to “The Pope’s words - pot and kettles and blackness”

  1. Kelly said on September 15th, 2006 9:57 pm

    Absolutely wonderful! I saw the news post this morning and am contemplating my own blog post later today. It seems the Catholic church has a habit of putting their foot in their mouth.

  2. Alex said on September 15th, 2006 11:19 pm

    With the current Pope it’s not so much a case of ‘if’, but more ‘when’ he will go and put his foot in his mouth IMHO. Not the best person to have around in these troubled times, possibly?

  3. Caesar said on September 16th, 2006 10:27 pm

    The boundaries between religion and politics need to be more clearly defined. Unfortunately many still attribute power to religious figure-heads, when essentially the gift they should be offering to the world is the wisdom and counsel to help us live in harmony with each other. That is my ruling, and nobody is allowed to disagree with it…or else!

  4. Alex said on September 17th, 2006 1:18 am

    Caesar, don’t worry I am not going to disagree with you. You made your point very well. Let’s hope that either the current Pope or the wiser of the Muslim leaders are able to bring themselves up to the same level. Religion, applied intelligently and objectively, can make this world a better place.

  5. Caesar said on September 17th, 2006 1:12 pm

    Thanks Alex, its refreshing to read a post of this calibre.

  6. Zack said on August 3rd, 2007 11:02 pm

    I think the Pope is just another human being -nothing special really- should let him be, at least he insinuated he was sorry!

  7. Alex said on August 4th, 2007 12:34 am

    Zack, I agree, the Pope is just another human being - and if he would acknowledge this once in a while, then he would gain more respect universally - and from all faiths. Just because this guy heads an organisation called the Roman Catholic church does not make him any better than you, or I or anyone else for that matter regardless of colour or creed. But what I want him and all other religious leaders to do is to condemn any and all forms of violence and not just pussy foot around the issue.

    And yes, I that at times violence is necessary, but that does not make it right. Someone needs to make a stand on this and who better than all religious leaders in this world. Oh, and not all forms of violence are physical, let’s not forget that.

    Thanks for dropping in.

    Alex

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