Yes, the Pope Is Catholic - So Catholic That He Actually Thinks Catholicism Is True
MR published a series of over 40 posts about Pope Benedict XVI's speech and the ensuing anti-Papal riots. These posts included an extensive unpacking of the speech itself, as well as criticism of academic and media reactions to the controversy. 39 of those posts are categorized and indexed here.
There you have it: we're losing the battle to preserve the glory of Athens and Jerusalem to a bunch of idiots.
We'd like to begin the substantive posts by posing a question about the people who are shocked that Pope Benedict XVI - a man who's formal training is in theology of staggering sophistication, and who is the spiritual leader of Catholicism... we'd like to ask a question about the people who are shocked that he has very good reasons for believing that Catholicism is superior to Islam:
WHAT THE HELL DID YOU PEOPLE EXPECT? He's the POPE! He's a devout CATHOLIC! He's SUPPOSED to believe that Catholicism is true and that other religions are false. That's his JOB. It's in fact a PREREQUISIT for the job. It's like suddenly Muslims are the only people on the planet allowed to publicly insist on the superiority of their religion... Maybe he could have won over some Muslim streeters if he would have phrased his speech in terms that they find a little more familiar.
Here's one we came up with, and we offer it for free so that maybe all the rioting will stop. The Pope should come out and declare that what he meant to say was that he has a thousand year old saint sitting on his shoulder, and the saint is telling him to build nukes and take over the world. And if that doesn't work, he can come out the next day and say "when I talked to my Muslim brothers and sisters yesterday, I forgot to mention: the Jews are evil" and we'll have an end to this angerthreateningtogetoutofcontrol in no time. The Vatican won't even have to put out statements about 'common ground' between Catholicism and Islam, because it'll all be right there.
Seriously, how stupid are these people?
Australia's leading Muslim is questioning the Pope's morals and character as the head of the Catholic Church faces angry demands from the Islamic world to apologise for a speech in which he said Muhammad's innovations were "evil and inhuman". "The Pope's statement did not come across as the way of the prophet Jesus," said Sheikh Taj al-Din al-Hilali, the Mufti of Australia. "It's not what I expect from a holy person. The church needs to re-examine its thoughts about someone who doesn't have the qualities or good grasp of Christian character or knowledge." Speaking outside a conference of Australian Islamic leaders, Sheikh Hilali said the Pope's comments would add fuel to the fire of fundamentalism and terrorism. "The result is to all but destroy the moderates, whereas the fundamentalists gain traction," he said. A wave of protest from Muslims hit the Vatican yesterday as the Islamic world denounced the Pope's comments linking Islam with violence, which he made in Germany last Tuesday. Quoting a 14th-century Byzantine emperor on the prophet Muhammad, founder of the Muslim faith, the Pope said: "He said, I quote, '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."
We have sunk so deep into the torpid stupidity of multiculturalism that we've forgotten that there are people in the West who actually BELIEVE in their religion. Pope Benedict XVI believes that Catholicism is superior to Islam> OF COURSE he does! He thinks it's superior to Judaism and Protestantism too. If he didn't, he wouldn't be the POPE. We're tempted to suggest something like 'someone should ask prominent, mainstream Muslim clerics what they think of Judaism', but if we wrote that we'd feel obligated to insert a link to a Sistani interview for Saudi sermon - and we have more respect for you than to think you need that.
Previous: On How to Really Believe (Without Blowing Things Up)
