The Question: Pope Benedict's recent baptism of a well-known Italian Muslim has prompted criticism in much of the Islamic world. Has Benedict done enough to build bridges to Islam?
No one in the Islamic world should bear ill will towards Pope Benedict, especially in regard to the conversion of the Italian Muslim, Magdi Cristiano Allam. From my understanding, Allam didn’t convert because he was wooed over; he had long ago turned against Islam.
Many are still angered over Pope Benedict’s speech at Regensburg, where he quoted a fourteenth-century Byzantine Christian emperor. But it was not a provocative statement when read in context. The broader point that Benedict was making that day was that violence needed to be renounced because it is contrary to the nature of God and sound reason.
His point was that there could be no meaningful discussion without such a renunciation of violence. Most of his speech at Regensburg was a masterful critique of the secularized state of Europe, which, having abandoned its Christian roots, is no longer able to understand faith, or how faith might motivate human behavior. So, in actuality, he was critiquing both sides as being incapable of finding common ground. For that, he was pilloried by both Islamists and Western secularists.
In my opinion, the Pope has rightly refused to engage in dialogues that are inevitably going to be fruitless. But I think he laid out in the Regensburg talk exactly the grounds on which meaningful dialogue that fully respects the truth claims of both sides can happen. Many of us hope and pray that Islamic leaders will renounce violence and Western leaders will understand the significance of faith. We all hope meaningful dialogue will become possible.
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