Pope Benedict XVI's remarks at Regensburg might better have not been made, unless he saw an ultimate benefit in them which does not become immediately evident to many who learned of his comments. History will show that even Popes sometimes make comments which are puzzling, to say the least.
Pope Benedict, in his exalted position, and representatives of other Christian communities, need to seek to understand the motives and history behind the present elements of extremism and violence in some segments of the Islamic population.
The first step in understanding such pathology is an awareness and acknowledgement of "violent and extreme" elements which have sometimes been present in Roman Catholic history and, surely, in Protestant America. One has only to mention the painful recollection of the Inquisition in Roman Catholic history and the Ku Klux Klan in some of American Protestantism's past.
Beyond such acknowledgement and recognition, people of goodwill of all faiths should speak and work in terms which recognize our common humanity.
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