Faith, Reason and the University

Memories and Reflections

Pope Benedict gave a speech recently at the University of Regensburg in which he examined the relationship between faith and reason in the Catholic Church with respect to the influence of the ancient Greeks. It is actually quite an interesting argument as it is generally sympathetic to the role of reason in the creation of modern Western Civilization, although I personally would give much more credit to Thomas Aquinas and his re-introduction of Aristotle to the canon of Western thought than the Pope's emphasis on Plato.

Naturally the hordes of Islamic savages are rioting and burning as they always do when someone asks them to answer uncomfortable questions. And to show just how non-violent they really are, they have now shot a nun in the back. The pretext for these actions was the Pope's reference to the comments of a long dead Byzantine Emperor Manuel II who had a few things to say about Islam in his own time, which seem not too different from what we know today. For Manuel was at that time defending Europe from Islamic invasion and conquest by the sword. And he apparently was not shy about saying that he thought that forced conversion in the name of religion was a great sin against God.

Without descending to details, such as the difference in treatment accorded to those who have the "Book" and the "infidels," he turns to his interlocutor somewhat brusquely with the central question on the relationship between religion and violence in general, in these words: "Show me just what Mohammed 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."

The emperor goes on to explain in detail the reasons why spreading the faith through violence is something unreasonable. Violence is incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul. "God is not pleased by blood, and not acting reasonably ("syn logo") is contrary to God's nature. Faith is born of the soul, not the body. Whoever would lead someone to faith needs the ability to speak well and to reason properly, without violence and threats.... To convince a reasonable soul, one does not need a strong arm, or weapons of any kind, or any other means of threatening a person with death...."