The Pope's Faulty Thesis

In the pope's recent address, Faith Reason and the University, he appears to outline a thesis that Christianity through its relationship with classical philosophy has developed in a way that makes it much more compatible with the notion of reason than a religion like Islam.As you probably know, considerable umbridge has been taken by Muslims worldwide.I don't believe this was a miscalculation by the pope. It seems laughable that anyone, especially someone with as many advisors could not realise what reaction they would provoke. Indeed, it seems laughable that anyone who merely watched television pictures of the Islamic crowds angered by the Belgian cartoons of Mohammed could not realise the reaction they would provoke when they claimed that Mohammed's teachings were faulty.He knows exactly what he is doing, and he is acting to inflame and enrage: to bypass the very reason and discussion he wants to align himself with. His thesis in his recent speech was that Islam isn't able to combine reason into its theology as well as Christianity. I believe this thesis is contemptible and plain wrong for reasons I will elaborate later, but I don't believe Benedict is aiming to be right. I think he is aiming to polarise opinion and to make Europe Christian again. He knew he could rely on devout Islamic people to make a big fuss and look crazy to Europeans on TV. They did exactly as he hoped, as he knew they would. In acting as they did, the appeared to help prove his flawed thesis.In addition, he knows that if his visit to Turkey is cancelled because of a danger to his person, then his lecture's thesis appears to be further confirmed (and as he would wish, strikes a blow against the secular European project to integrate Turkey into the EU)Pope Benedict assertion that Islam is less able to integrate reason than Christianity is ironic because the preservers of classical western thought were the Islamic scholars of the middle ages. It is ironic because Christianity has only been able to truly embrace reason as a result of The Enlightenment, which has acted to mitigate Christianity's anti-rational beliefs. It is ironic because the pope himself appears to be an enthusiastic proponent of Intelligent Design - a mystical belief which has no means of engagement with rationality.So his actions I believe were to strike a blow against his most hated enemies - those who promote the idea of a secular Europe in which the Catholic church becomes an increasing irrelevance. He is playing a long game and he doesn't care how many lives are endangered because of his inflammatory rhetoric.At least, that's what I'm fearing. What do you think?Edited by Tusko, : Inexcusable misspelling of Mohammed. I plead dyslexia.Edited by Tusko, : I've added an opening paragraph that I hope makes everything make more sense.

Where would you like this to go, Tusko? Comparative Religion? Let me know and I'll promote it.ABE: You may wish to consider a topic title more on the lines of what the OP is about - this one is a bit weak, since you haven't actually mentioned the thesis the Pope is supposed to be putting forward.Edited by AdminQuetzal, : clarification

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Have you actually read the transcript of the speech or are you simply going by news reports?If you have not read the transcript it is available here.A second link with the greek characters included is found here.It seems that there are two possible directions that can be taken, one relating to the speech itself, the other related to the speech as perceived. You may want to pick one of those and explain why you wish to explore that aspect.Edited by AdminJar, : add second link

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I suppose Comparative Religions would be perfectly reasonable. I don't have any strong feelings to be honest, as long as its somewhere I can hear what people think.As for the title, perhaps if I add a little by edit to the OP explaining what I see the pope's thesis is, then it will make more sense. Let me do that now...

Cheers Jar,I had previously only read commentary on his speech but have now read it and still believe what I wrote was relevant enough to the topic in question.I hadn't thought of dividing this discussion either into a discussion of the substance of his speech or the the reception of the speech. I suppose I want to discuss the substance of his speech and what I percieve to be the central ironies of his claim, as outlined in the OP.I wrote an opinionated OP in order to provoke discussion but I'm not necessarily decided on his motivations. I'm just highly suspicious and think that if his argument is as flawed as it seems to me then questions are raised with regards to his agenda.

Thread copied to the The Pope's Faulty Thesis thread in the Comparative Religions forum, this copy of the thread has been closed.