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The Pope's trying to wiggle out of the mess by stating (legally correctly) that what he expressed was not his opinion but of some person he was 'quoting'. While many Muslims and non-Muslims, even Atheists, have some right to pooh-poohing this lame excuse - (after all, of a zillion possible quotations available, why did he need to use this?) - there's one person, at least, who cannot fault this logic.
posted by Zakintosh at 9/19/2006 11:10:00 PM
They laugh at me because I am different; I laugh at them because they are all the same.
Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind.
These passions, like great winds, have blown me hither and thither, in a wayward course, over a deep ocean of anguish, reaching to the very verge of despair.
I have sought love, first, because it brings ecstasy - ecstasy so great that I would often have scrificed all the rest of life for a few hours of this joy. I have sought it, next, because it relieves loneliness - that terrible loneliness in which one shivering consciousness looks over the rim of the world into the cold unfathomable lifeless abyss. I have sought it, finally, because in the union of love I have seen, in a mystic miniature, the prefiguring vision of the heaven that the saints and poets have imagined. This is what I sought and, though it might seem too good for human life, this is what - at last - I have found.
With equal passion I have sought knowledge. I have wished to understand the hearts of men. I have wished to know why the stars shine. And I have tried to apprehend the Pythagorean power by which number holds sway above the flux. A little of this, but not much, I have achieved.
Love and knowledge, so far as they were possible, led upward toward the heavens. But always pity brought me to earth. Echoes of cries of pain reverberate in my heart. Children in famine, victims tortured by oppressors, helpless old people a hated burden to their sons, and the whole world of loneliness, poverty, and pain make a mockery of what human life should be. I long to alleviate the evil, but I cannot, and I too suffer.
This has been my life. I have found it worth living, and would gladly live it again if the chance were offered me.
Bertrand Russell
The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum - even encourage the more critical and dissident views. That gives people the sense that there's free thinking going on, while all the time the presuppositions of the system are being reinforced by the limits put on the range of the debate.
Noam Chomsky
Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social environment. Most people are even incapable of forming such opinions.
Albert Einstein
Each century seems to take on a particular character as we view it in retrospect. How will the 20th Century be remembered? My guess is that this dramatic span of 100 years will ultimately be marked not by computers or the Internet, but by the drive toward individual freedom, the breaking of human barriers of prejudice, and the opening of society to include all people.
John S. Spong
DESIDERATA
Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons,
they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs;
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment
it is as perennial as the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.
Max Ehrmann
6 Comments:
We Muslims seem to be saying: If anyone dares to say that Islam encourages violence, we'll kill him!
Gideon Rachman write in the Financial Times (18 September 2006): "The rituals of the “clash of civilisations” are by now well established. Somebody somewhere in the west “insults Islam” – Salman Rushdie writes a book; a Danish paper publishes a cartoon; the Pope makes a speech – and the demonstrators take to the streets. What better way to prove that Islam is a religion of peace than to burn the Pope in effigy?"
The matter does not, of course, end there. "Islamic believers are so horrified at it that they are burning churches and shot one 60 year-old Italian nun in the back."
http://www.etherzone.com/2006/beam091906.shtml
The fact is that many people have been (stll are and always will be) of the opinion that Islam was spread by violent means. Muslims, who obviously do not subscribe to this view, cannot make this differing opinion disappear from the world. Those people think that it is their right to express their opinion. So what should Muslims do?
Silencing everone is hardly an option. Muslims can extract an apology (however ambivalent) from the Pope, but what can they do with the thousands of books and websites in which this opinion (as other disturbing opinions about Islam, its hostory and Muslims) is openly expressed? It is beyond the power of Muslims to gag all of them. So, why not try and learn to live with the opposite views? Why not request the Bavarian university to arrange for a lecture by an Islam scholar who could present the countering view?
Ever since the Pope Benedict has delivered his lecture at the university, everyone has been lecturing him that he should have been more careful, as if burning churches, killing nuns and issuing death threats is a natural response which everyone should try to avoid.
You may or may not be aware that the Madrassas in Karachi have replaced the term "jihad fi sabil'llah" with "qital fi sabil'llah" as the former was open to interpretations that "jihad" could be cariied out by peaceful means as well while the the latter literally means "to kill in the name of Allah". The respectable Islamic scholars quote some authentic ahadith in favoure of this view. Where is your protest at this misrepresentation, if you think it is a misrepresentation of the Islamic faith?
20 September, 2006 11:14
The pope was not quoting just anyone but that 'someone' was a very prominent 14th century scholar and the quote, however inflammatory it was, was said in a certain context of the Pope's speech. Unfortunately most of us just look at the provocative lines and don't read the whole of the speech where the pope is trying to make a certain point (though he fails badly).
Perhaps you should look into this comment:
http://www.slate.com/?id=3936&m=18200215
and read this article:
http://www.slate.com/id/2149863/nav/tap1/
There are always two sides to a story.
rabayl-m.livejournal.com
20 September, 2006 18:50
@ajmal kamal:
LOL for "If anyone dares to say that Islam encourages violence, we'll kill him!"
However, to "Where is your protest at this misrepresentation, if you think it is a misrepresentation of the Islamic faith?" - I do not think it is a misrepresentation any more than any other view is. I have no idea why/how one can vest more authority for representation in one interpreter than in any other. Nothing in my understanding of Islam gives this authority to anyone. On the other hand members of some Muslim sects have officially appointed 'heads'.
Incidentally the specific phrase you are referring to has a history of confusion in related areas, anyway, which is outside the pale of this discussion.
@rabayl:
i am fully aware that the someone was not just anyone. in fact no one is just anyone. the scholar and the circumstances are also clear, if not from the speech (and, btw, i read all of it) before my comments in this or the previous post. my objection was not to the provocation (i was certainly not provoked into any anger by the oft-repeated charge of islam having been spread by the sword) but to the gross insensitivity and stupidity of the pope in not taking into account the damage that such a statement would do. the fact that muslims riot at the drop of a hat should have been taken into account. after all, if you encountered a madman at a crossing who was pelting stones at passersby, would you not take a more circuitous route?
21 September, 2006 09:17
This comment has been removed by the author.
24 September, 2006 10:59
Muhammad's Sword by Uri Avnery is a good piece on the subject. If you have not read it yet, go to http://www.bloggernews.net/2006/09/muhammads-sword.html
26 September, 2006 10:29
@zakintosh: That article was the best piece of Moslem-arse licking in a while. I am surprised at YOU referring to it and saying it is GOOD.
10 October, 2006 18:06
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