Pope, Bad “Freedom of Speech” Player
As a learned theological man, Pop Benedict XVI must knew perfectly well the consequences of his invocation. But seemed to me, the man has “freedom-of-speech supporter” all over him, only he played bad.
I mean, what could be the rational for quoting a part of the dialogue that took place between the Byzantine emperor and a Persian on the subject of Christianity and Islam? why would he choose to resurrect the ugly words of this medieval text in Germany at a time when the hurt caused by the terrible Danish cartoons is still fresh in Muslim memory?
Even low educated muslim will take that as an open war, considering his position as the head of a global institution with more than a billion follower.
Jonathan Freedland made a great view of this,
At a 1983 Conservative rally, the comedian Kenny Everett called out, “Let’s bomb Russia!” A year later, a microphone caught Ronald Reagan ad-libbing a mock radio address: “My fellow Americans, I’m pleased to tell you today that I’ve signed legislation that will outlaw Russia for ever. We begin bombing in five minutes.” Both had an equal right to make the joke. But it was rather less wise for the leader of a cold war superpower.
Pope Benedict is in the Reagan category. Of course he has the right to quote whomever he chooses, but there is now a significance to his words that did not apply when he was a humble scholar. This is what makes the Pope’s defenders so disingenuous when they insist that he was merely engaged in a “scholarly consideration of the relationship between reason and faith”. He is not a lecturer at divinity school. He is the head of a global institution with more than a billion followers. So he has to think carefully about the sources he cites. When he digs out a 700-year-old sentence that could not be more damning of Islam – “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” – he has to know there will be consequences.