Carnal Reason

Via Treppenwitz

If one examines the content and timing of the Pope’s statement, it becomes fairly clear that this was no accidental slip of the tongue.

First of all, one doesn’t go around casually dropping quotes from obscure medieval emperors into speeches. That sort of thing requires a bit of forethought and research.

Second, if the Pope was casting about for unobjectionable content for his remarks during a politically delicate time in European history, he certainly wouldn’t draw from a source that intimated that any aspect of Islam which Mohamed hadn’t managed to steal outright from Judaism or Christianity was essentially evil.
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My theory is that the Pope was disappointed… perhaps even alarmed… at the failure of Europeans to take a united stand during the prophet cartoon riots. So he sat down and figured out a plan that would pit Islam… not against Europe… but against Christian Europe (and ultimately all of Christendom).

He knew that any statement critical of Islam would elicit a swift and violent response, so he was careful to draw it from a historical source and present it as part of a scholarly, albeit tangential discussion. This way, when the expected explosion took place he could feign dismay and regret at the Muslim reaction while avoiding a direct apology. After all, why should he personally apologize for something that has been a matter of public record since the 14th century?

As expected, churches all over the world are now being targeted by angry Muslim mobs and the leader of the Catholic Church is being called unspeakable names… and even threatened… by a wide swath of the world’s Muslims.

Europeans might not have been willing to stand up and take a stand for something as ill-defined as a personal freedom… but they sure as hell feel their backs have been pushed to the wall as their very religious identity comes under attack. The proof of this can be found in the fact that both religious and political European leaders are now closing ranks… firmly behind the Pope.

If the Pope’s goal was to draw clear battle lines for the coming global struggle that would force Christian Europe to finally dig in and say ‘not one more inch!’… he seems to have found an extremely effective way to go about it.

If it was merely an accident… there too, I doubt the Pope can be very unhappy with the results.

And since the enemy of my enemy is my friend… let me say for the record, “Onward Christian soldiers…”.

I wish I had the slightest bit of confidence in Europe.

Posted on September 17th, 2006 by pwyll
Filed under: politics, religion, war