All Comments (59)

Shouldn't superstition be mocked?

People who derive "truth" from the absence of any evidence should be scorned. Just because many people believe something doesn't make it any more "true".

Most religious people portray themselves as being modest and having humility, but it shows extreme arrogance to think that:

1. YOU have a special place in the universe
2. The creator of the universe watches YOU every moment
3. God sent his son as a human sacrifice to die for YOU! ... (what a disgusting, violent idea)
4. YOU have telepathy and are able to transmit thoughts to God.
5. YOU can go to heaven and be immortal.

Its mind-boggling that billions of people can believe this nonsense without one shred of evidence.

The Pope personifies this arrogance that all religious people have...

"Worth repeating: ...."

Only if you are an insomniac desperate to dream about about the 70s.

Hopefully the pope's visit will do something to remedy the intolerance & staggering ignorance people clearly have of Catholicism.

Worth repeating:

The Crises in the contemporary Catholic Church:

1. The inappropriate conduct of many priests, the emotional stress on the victims and the resultant billion dollars in lawsuits,

2. The lack of talent in the priesthood.

3. The lack of Vatican response to the historic Jesus movement.

4. The Church's continuing cling to original sin and the resulting subsets of crazy ideas like limbo.

5. The denial of priesthood to women.

6. The restriction of priesthood to single men (unless you are former Episcopalian priests),

7. And the continued chain of Vatican "leadership" by old European white men

Indeed. Tonight I went to a lecture by Cardinal Arinze, and he delivered with humor and passion what the pope will also say that love is what makes us human. Even a dog, he reminded us, knows when he is loved, and not : How much more the human being.

Richard John Neuhaus,
Thank-you for sharing your thoughts about the Pope. How will the Pope pastor to Christians in America who come from traditions rooted in the believe that Rome was hypocritical in raising money to gold guild St.Peter's Cathederal saying believers can essentially buy their way to heaven? Many Protestants in America consider Rome the source of false teachings and false promises. Mary Magdalene fulfills all the Biblical definitions for an apostle, one who first witnessed the Resurection of Jesus and told others about it; and yet the testimony and leadership of women is considered seconary in Rome's eyes. Love, power, and justice convey more of God's vitality in this world than the static labels of Aristotle, the good, the true, and the beautiful. I hope Pope Benedict's visit is more beneficial to all than I anticipate. Craig

"It's easy to be a professor when there is no toleration for questions."

Anti-catholic bigots are simply ignorant? Or just indoctrinated?

No room for questions, eh?

Look at this exchange between the pope and the great secular thinker, habermas:

"The Dialectics of Secularization: On Reason and Religion"

Fr Neuhaus,

Well said!

CEU

nice synopsis of the basics of our Pope

I've listened closely to Benedict before, and been schocked. I hope your right.

He looks like Darth Vader. I hope he is not evil person. He is a poor scholar, biased and prejudiced possibly ??????

Did he know that 911 was an inside job ? Did he know if anthrax attacks were fake ?

Darth Vader

Thank you Father Neuhaus for shedding more light on the thinking of Pope Benedict. Regardless of one's personal, political and/or religious beliefs, there is great intellectual, spiritual and artistic wealth in an church that has survived over 2,000 years! How many other entities; political or religious can approach this?

Moreover, all of this combined wealth encompassing over 2,000 years is available to all of humanity, simply for the asking.

WHAT A DEAL!

I am appalled by some of the comments in this forum. As the father of a Catholic priest who has dedicated his life to his brethren, the Church that those comments paint is so alien to the Church I know that I can only think that either these people have never had any contact with a true catholic or else that their hate has some deep psychological root. Calling the catholic faith ''Nazi'' as many did, is in itself a pure nazistic thing. By the way, the founder of the congregation of which my son is a member spent years in a nazi concentration camp for his Faith.

Father Neuhaus, I sincerely believe that being a "human being fully alive" has little to do with the Benedict's beliefs or his Catholic intellectual offerings. We can all do without them. He is and will become increasingly irrelevant as will all priests and rabbis and imams. One day we will all simply be human beings with a spirituality we can ALL live with.

I am appalled by some of the comments in this forum. As the father of a Catholic priest who has dedicated his life to his brethren, the Church that those comments paint is so alien to the Church I know that I can only think that either these people have never had any contact with a true catholic or else that their hate has some deep psychological root. Calling the catholic faith ''Nazi'' as many did, is in itself a pure nazistic thing. By the way, the founder of the congregation of which my son is a member spent years in a nazi concentration camp for his Faith.

I am not even reading this offensive article.
This is a religious leader whose voice I do NOT have to listen to. Why should I care? He was a Nazi. He is sprung from the papacy which helped sell out Poland because Germany had more marks in the donation pool than Poland had zloty. WHy is a religious cult allowed on the world stage? Why is the Washington Post cramming this down our throats? ARe you guys bow-downers to Rome also? Grown men in KKK style hats commanding our national resources because they have bullied their way into the UN. All free services I might add since the Vatican claims a state status. Talk about Tibet and China? How about the Billions paid out in legitimate claims to victims of pedophilia by the Roman KKK employees? Where is the cry for human rights there? If we hosted China's head of government with the same fanfare there would be an outcry. And that is based on some lead in the paint of their cheap toys! But this stupid cult is bleeding poor people around the world of their scarce money with scare tactics, trying to make themselves the agent of God. Many will say in that day, Lord, Lord, and He will say to them: Depart from me I never knew ye. That's what this former Nazi, son of Nazi lover Pius who sold out and took blood money from Nazis and blessed the Nazi troops, will hear on the day of judgment. And those of you who are men worshippers deserve and will hear the same thing.

Protecting human life in all its forms is a pillar of contemporary Catholicism. Today however the Crises in the Catholic Church overshadows this pillar.

The Crises:

Worth repeating:

The Crises in the contemporary Catholic Church:

1. The inappropriate conduct of many priests, the emotional stress on the victims and the resultant billion dollars in lawsuits,

2. The lack of talent in the priesthood.

3. The lack of Vatican response to the historic Jesus movement.

4. The Church's continuing cling to original sin and the resulting subsets of crazy ideas like limbo.

5. The denial of priesthood to women.

6. The restriction of priesthood to single men (unless you are former Episcopalian priests),

7. And the continued chain of Vatican "leadership" by old European white men.

"Benedict is a priest and professor"

It's easy to be a professor when there is no toleration for questions.

"A constant theme of Benedict’s is that, when rightly understood, there is no conflict between religion and science, faith and reason, heart and mind."

What is rightly understood? Is "rightly" his way or the highway? Do you recall Galileo and the Inquisition that ruled against him in 1616 or Urban VIII who would not lift the injunction against Galileo for fear of undermining church authority. "Never admit failure or the ability to adapt and change" has been the churches motto for the last 1000 years.

The church preaches fear instead of faith, hope and charity (love) which is why it was so easy for the neo-cons to win with the catholic vote, FEAR!

"Key to understanding the man is that he is much more of an fifth century Augustinian than a thirteenth century Thomist. They are the great lights by which most schools of thought are defined."

So the church is still preaching to the flock as if they are superstitious, uneducated, easily led fearful peasants.

Christians believe Jesus suffered and died on the cross for their redemption but to constantly drum that into them takes away from all the other teaching Jesus stood for; Faith in ones self, hope to make the world a peaceful and better place to live and to love and care for the less fortunate among us.

Stop preaching FEAR and Christians will return!

Clinton Smith:
It si not that the catholic church holds people to higher standard. Yes they do the run of the mill catholic to higher standard, but their own they look the other way at best or abet and provide shelter to the criminals amongst their own. When a person is expected to handover a criminal relative to the authorities and are prosecuted for not doing so, why is that this highest leader of the church devise means to cover up for the criminal priests. Why weren't the priests handed over to the law? Under which principle of church do they feel they are unaccountable? If so why are they above the laws of the land in which they live? The attacks are not ad hominem but are based on the fact that these faiths set themselves up beyond any need for proving anything. They make unsubstantiated claims and expect us not ask for substantiation.

I have heard enough of these moralistic relativism of the seculars. If anything the damn scriptures are full of moral relativism. How in the world do you justify Abraham owning slaves and then your dog (looks like my dyslexia is getting better of me) did not like Pharaoh holding several thousand slaves. What absolute morals were being upheld here? That Pharaoh was holding far too many slaves? Or is it that non-gentile should not be holding Jewish slaves? (if my memory serves me right the other non-Jewish slaves were not freed) What is the moral absolute being upheld. That story alone proves beyond shadow of doubt that this whole notion of merciful god existing somewhere in ether is a fairy tale and the likes of pope exploit the gullible and the credulous. They deserve nothing but derision from us all.

To Clinton Smith,

You write that the attacks on either Ratzinger and/or the Church are “ad hominem” and that we are “offended that the Church actually holds people to some (high) moral standard.” WRONG!!! Our attacks are not ad hominem, they stem from the hypocrisy with which Ratzinger and the Church so blithely engage in. As for the high moral standards with which Ratzinger et. al. supposedly preach against, it would be best if they look to their own house. Ratzinger and the Church engage in their own moral and religious relativism and they do not have the right to insist that anyone follow their precepts. It may come as a shock to you, but morality and religion are mutually exclusive and the history of all religions has born this out. Reason and faith are incompatible and Ratzinger’s scholarship regarding their compatibility is shoddy and filled with faulty analysis that takes the writings of various thinkers out of contexts.

Simple minds detest complexity and choose to attack it by shifting the arguement away from the issue being discussed to attacks on the crediblity of the speaker. George Bush did it by calling Kerry a Flip-Flopper (and not by addressing any of the issues Kerry so deftly laid to rest in each of their debates.) That is why I find it so humorous that JackMack (and others like him), attempt to allign a serious thinker -like the Pope - with simple minds like Bush.

Jackmack your ignorance is showing. Perhaps you should try to understand an issue before you beging "Pontificating" on it. Clearly, you are not up to the task.

Wow Clint!!!!

You are really full of hate and despair. Let Catholics be Catholics and let them believe, after all that is much better than going through life with no spiritual base at all.

Sheesh guys. Ya'll need to chill out. Go drink a beer or a glass of wine or something and enjoy life a little. You know, loosen up and let go of some of that anger. Go find a girlfriend/boyfriend. Clearly expounding on ideas of faith and reason fall onto deaf ears, perhaps a suggestion to go out and enjoy life might open up some of you? At the very least it may prevent that coronary ya'll are looking forward to in your 50's. Maybe by then age will have made ya'll more amenable to a little open introspection and religious contemplation...

But then again-- at least the Pope wears a dunce cap. Too bad he does not merely sit in his golden corner.

A fitting crown for such a stupid office. I know much more about this bible fraud than that evil old bastard ever could.

I've read it 10 times. Does anyone realize how much nonsense is in it? Can anyone really read the OT, or even much of the NT for that matter, without throwing up?

I dare you. Read it. Christians are so little masters. I finished reading it once... then had to run to the bathroom-- it made me throw up.

Of all the systems of religion that were ever invented, there is none more repugnant to reason, or more unedifying to man, or highly insulting to the Almighty, than this thing called Christianity. As a means of wealth, it serves the avarice of priests, as an engine of power the purposes of despotism, war, and terror. But insofar as concerns the good of man in general, it leads to nothing in the here or the hereafter.
--Thomas Paine

He had it right. The only ones who deserve everlasting torments are the ones who invented it to get their tithes. Hell and purgatory are revenue laws. They used the proxyism of crucifixion to pretend for substitutionary atonements; for the simple reason, to allow themselves to become gods over all creation.

You cannot substitute the innocent for the guilty. It does not work. It is a LIE.

Fall of man-- meant the fall of the year. Get clothes to keep them warm. Eats an apple in the fall of the year, which is the fruit of that season.

Jesus and his 12 disciples (which is as fictitious as Adam and Eve)... tie into the Zend Avester, or 12 signs of the Zodiac... it is some kind of sun-god cult. Everything told to us of this man Jesus has to do w/ the sun.. he rises on Sunday-- the next day, Monday, is MOON-day, which the ancient roman mythologists had dedicated to the Moon.

Jesus died for nothing. He never even existed people. It is a stupid fable from the ancient quarter. All you need to do is walk inside a church-- tons of smoke, mirrors, and tricks and feats... to hold men in ignorance of the Creator, and the Creation.

What is the true religion, then-- Deism: meaning, the Word of God is the Creation we behold.

What else could it be.

There simply is no such thing as religion in books-- b/c how could a Creator communicate with the Created, and let them sit down in a castle-- for King James, and VOTE this book into existence-- what if they voted otherwise?

KJV-- was just the way Mr. James got himself crowned by the pope. Nothing more than that.

It has no relevance whatsoever in today's world--unless you want end times--again.

It's Ratzinger who needs to do some listening. Will he? Can he listen to unpleasant truths? What will he learn of the heart and mind of people here?

A pattern here.

Election year....Republican presidential candidate (this year republicans in general) deep dooo. Let's get the Conservative Catholic vote segment (that they've conveniently ignored for the rest of the term)in line.

President Bush gets cute photo ops with the Pope. Pope gets co-opted by a President who stands for everything Catholics should find objectionable-abandonment of the poor in favor of a grossly overfunded military machine, disenfranchisement of minorities, torture.

A 21 gun salute planned for the His Holiness...So much for being an advocate of non-violence.

And then the American Bishops go lock step in support of the president because of his one-trick pony position on Abortion. Abortion is wrong, absolutely, but they ignore just as egregious violations of human rights in that President's other positions. Has the Pope read John Yoos memos?

American Catholics helped elect Bush twice...and now they will line up behind Bush's Republican candidate who will give us 100 more years of an immoral war.

And the Bishops wonder why the 'cradle catholics' are leaving in droves. People are tired of the hypocrisy

Yeah, ok... some religion this Catholicism is.

Why doesn't God the Father of the most evil trinity in history explain the actions of his thug predecessor's associations with the likes of Hitler?

It is a bunch of nonsense. Since when do snakes talk?

Why does Matthew 24:7 say something like "and nation shall rise against nation"... and the Reich Concordant between Pius XII and Hitler was done just a short time before WWII began?

Gee: I wonder why that war happened?

Jesus Christ is the greatest mass murderer in human history.

The Catholic church is directly responsible for the most egregious crimes and mass murders in human history-- inquisitions, crusades, world wars-- alignments with fascist thug governments.

It is obscenely wealthy.

Their OT is a collection of nonsense with around 2,000,000 people butchered.

The NT fraud is the invention of priest-craft--this is so obvious.

The book of Revelation referred to Jesus or whoever he was (jesus never existed obviously)-- trying to save some early Christians from Nero's nightmare around AD 70.

Christianity is the biggest joke in human history.

Crosses filling the entire globe.

Here is the trinity-- God the Father is the Pope. God the Mother is Mary. God the Son is Jesus.

Some trinity this is. It is the root of all evil. That man Benedict has evil in his eyes.

A child can see through what this worldwide criminal organization gets away with all the time-- and still gets away with.

They all ought to be put out to pasture, or hanged at once. These people are the greatest murderers in history. Christianity is a death cult-- not a true faith.

It is evil.

Having read many of the comments regarding this article, I am amazed at the immaturity of those posting. Many seem to become caught up in "ad hominem" style attacks on either the Pope or on the Catholic Church or on Christianity or on faith in general. To reject any of these on the grounds that they are not perfect and have been tainted by human error is a grave mistake, but one it seems many people make. Is it that you require perfection as an example (in this case, God is the perfect example, albeit by His revelations as made manifest through the imperfect lens of humanity)? If so that will not be found in any human institution. Instead it is better to strive to follow the principles of faith and reason (e.g. those referred to in this article). A part of me thinks that people rely on these "ad hominem" style attacks to justify a selfish rejection of faith. After all, if priests rape little kids, why should I read the Gospels and other later moral writings -- Catholic or otherwise -- and try to live up to them? Furthermore, many seem to be offended that the Church actually holds people to some (high) moral standard. Is it that the idea of sinning and feeling guilty makes one feel bad? As it's supposed to? So instead of feeling guilty about sinning in some aspects of life -- we all do, I certainly do -- people rather outrightly reject the concept of sin, of a moral absolute? To follow such a course is to wrap oneself in a cloud of misery by (and I'll become a bit "Augustinian now") quitting the "pursuit of the right ordering of love to the truth, and ultimately to absolute truth, who is God," which is contrary to our very nature. Perhaps that is why so many of these posts are clouded by such palpable angst?

This pope waves just like G W bush! That's about all he dose. Lets us sacrifice a few more sheep, birds etc. Ah the smell of burning flesh in the morning to please the Gods!

Richard John Neuhaus ignored the Popes(John Paul II,and Benedict xvi) condemnation of Iraq war,He is shabbas goy neocon wolf in sheeps clothing.John Morrison

Professor Crossan et al's "take" on the historic foundation of the papacy:

John 14: 26 not historic ( 62-. Spirit under Trial: (1) 1Q: Luke 12:11-12 = Matt
10:19-20; (2) Mark 13:11 = Matt 10: 19-20 = Luke 21:14-15; (3) John 14:26.)

Matt 16: 18-19 not historic (73- Who Is Jesus?: (1) Gos. Thom. 13; (2a) Mark
8:27-30 = Matt 16:13-20 = Luke 9:18-21; (2b) Gos. Naz. 14; (2c) John 6:67-69.)

1 Timothy- not written by St. Paul (See Crossan’s “In Search of Paul”, Harper, San
Francisco, 2004, p.105)

2 Peter 1:20
Since Schillebeeckx basically ruled out prophecies by concluding God does not know
the future, one can rule out the infallible nature of this verse.

Also from Raymond Brown’s, An Introduction to the New Testament, 2 Peter was
the last canonical work written i.e. ~ 130 AD, author unknown. Tis a bit dated for use in claiming infallibility plus the verse is not from Jesus or Peter but some possible remembrance of a scribe.

Conclusion: The papacy has no historical or scriptural foundations.

Some added references:

1. faithfutures.org/Jesus/Crossan1.rtf,
2. faithfutures.org/Jesus/Crossan2.rtf,
3. faithfutures.org/Jesus/Crossan2.rtf,
4. faithfutures.org/index.php/Crossan_Inventory,
5. Professor Crossan's books, The Historic Jesus, Excavating Jesus, In Search of Paul, Who is Jesus, and The Birth of Christianity,
6. Schillebeeckx's Church: The Human Story of God, Crossroad, 1993, p.91 (softcover)

With respect to Catholicism being the only true religion i.e God's people:

Professor Crossan's view from his book, Who is Jesus:

"When I look a Buddhist friend in the face, I cannot say with integrity, "Our story about Jesus' virginal birth is true and factual. Your story that when the Buddha came out of his
mother's womb, he was walking, talking, teaching and preaching (which I must admit is even better than our story)---that's a myth. We have
the truth; you have a lie."

I don't think that can be said any longer, for our insistence that our faith is a fact and that others' faith is a lie is, I think, a cancer that eats at the heart of Christianity".

At the heart of it, he is a former Nazi.

I think this commentary is a good profile of one of the best intellectuals nowadays. Many people repeat once and again that faith is against reason. But I think, curiously, today is the opposite: Catholic doctrine is one of the few which looks for reason as his anthropologic basis.

But you have to go beyond the cliché to realize of it.

i really don't need to listen further. herr ratzinger said all when a very few years ago he declared my faith "defective."

very well. i suggest that he and the other catholic clergy are unatural men, leading unnatural lives. that they have not overcome essential human carnality is demonstrated by the pederast scandals this church worked so fervently to cover up.

hopefully, he and his kind won't take it personally when i suggest that they take their adornments, their cathedrals, their communion and go straight to hell.

Jim-

It's called "ON Faith", which implies a discussion of faith. There may be more limited blogs of the type which you want. Go look for one of them.

"..there is no conflict between religion and science..."? Then how do do we view the persistent natalist imperative of the Church in the face of obvious degradation of "the dignity of the human person" brought about by the expansion of the earth's human population beyond the capacity of the Earth to adequately support our needs? Or is the Church populated with overpopulation deniers? If there are not too many of us now, simple math indicates that there will be, and the Church blithely ignores that.

What "his holiness" is, is a child molesting
encouraging former member of Hitler's youth
corps. The world in general would far better
off without a-holes of his ilk as a blot on
humanity down through the ages !!!!!!

Being the pope means being in charge of the largest financial institution in the world. Yet they continue to take money from the poor, making them believe this will be a good thing for them.
During WW2 the Vatican made a deal with Hitler not to destroy their precious city in exchange for not condemning the execution of Jews, and last but not least is the perverse idea of being celibate unnaturally. Sex is a natural expression of human love and to say that it is some how "dirty" or off limits to priests, well, you see the consequences.
Jesus plainly states, " Call no man master and no man father because we all have the same master and the same father, even the Christ. Still the Catholics insist on calling their hierarchy "father".
Boy, what a mixed up bunch of souls, its no wonder that there is a rumor that the number 666 is said to be engraved in the pope's crown.

Would the faithless PLEASE refrain from posting entries to this "On Faith" blog?

So Benedict is in charge of Roman Catholic priests who have raped kids, had sex with young boys, tell people people if they don't behave they go to hell, and carry a cross (a torture machine) around their neck as a symbol of eternal love. Interesting.

He's confronting Bush the war monger, not that Bush will listen even to a Pope; he didn't listen to the last one either.

When Pope Benedict was a cardinal before the 2003 Iraq invasion, he totally dismissed the idea a preventive strike against Iraq could be justified under Catholic doctrine. Last year at his Easter message he said, "nothing positive comes from Iraq."

Benedict told Bush at their first meeting last summer at the Vatican that he was concerned about "the worrisome situation in Iraq."

Esta muy bueno este pequeño articulito

There nothing Augustinian about Pope Ratzinger. Neuhaus only wants to make this Pope more acceptable to other Christian Theologians, especially Reformed Calvinistic Protestant.

Sola Deo Gloria,

M. Veloce

Pope Benedict helped give the order years ago (as a side-kick to the former pope) for churches to keep silent on child sex cases and to not punish the sex offenders. That should tell you all you need to know about his character.

Head pervert of so many perverts who gives a whistle.
Really, kneelers should break their devotion to a church of pedophilia

PS - I printed this article after I read it again.

"Against a sometimes dry intellectualism or restrictive moralism, Benedict presents the way of Christ as a high adventure of mind and heart toward the transcendental realities of the good, the true, and the beautiful."

Beautiful is right!

Thank you Fr. Neuhaus for the article and the great break-down between the Augustinian and Thomist traditions.

PS - loved your book!

You urge us to listen to what he says, and you even cite a few phrases from one of his encyclicals. Yet those writings of his I have read are vague, littered with uncritical citations of and references to various philosophers whose words are generally taken out of context. I'm sure he's a nice man (well, there's that bit about rising to the top of the Church hierarchy ...), but I see nothing in his writings to confirm your evaluation of him.

I think Pope Benedict is smart enough not to let Bush use him for credibility purposes. Bush tries to associate with respected people in the hope that some will rub off on him. He has done this with every member of his administration who had a good name before getting involved with Bush: Paul O'Neill, his first Sec of Treasury; Colin Powell, his first Sec of State; Allan Greenspan, his first Fed Chairman; and many, many others.

He is wanted by US law enforcement. Why are you hiding him?

Where is "Father" Aguilar?

Thank you, Father Neuhaus, for this clear picture of the mind and heart of Pope Benedict XVI. Let us pray for him constantly during this visit, and for ears of all nations to be open to what he will say.
Elaine Guidry

"I dislike him because like so many fundamentalists, he insists that we must all live by his rules, his standards, and his preferences. I'll fight men such as him as long as I live." --Ash

Not really. He's pretty clear that he doesn't want light Catholics, or followers in name only. He calls on baptized nonbelievers to have the courage not to call themselves Catholics! If you are an atheist all Catholics can do is pray for you. As an atheist you shouldn't be afraid of that, should you?

Furthermore, this "insists that we must all live by his rules" is an unfair and broad generalization. Surely anyone who cares about his neighbour and has a belief on how life should be lived would argue his point of view to his neighbour. I argue with my Muslim friends all the time but we are hardly intolerant of each other's beliefs. I'm sure you respectably discuss your atheism with friends of different persuasion.

The Church emphatically rejects any violence in pursuing any ideology and loudly demands we renounce all violence (for example the war in Iraq which it always opposed) and start a dialogue to discuss these differences instead. Her constant message of peace is truly a testament to what she really is.

Cheers

How is it that you can claim that Ratzinger “finds himself in the unexpected position of being pastor of a universal church of 1.2 billion people.” UNEXPECTED!!! Sir you must be living in a different world than the rest of us. He wanted to be in this position, because he is arrogant enough to think that he can re-evangelize Europe and spread the “one true faith” to an increasingly secular world. Whether he is more of an Augustinian than a Thomist is inconsequential, for all of his supposed amiability and willingness to debate the issues, this much is true, Ratzinger goes into any debate presupposing he is right. When Ratzinger say, that “when rightly understood” there is no conflict between reason and faith, it must be understood that in his mind only the Roman Catholic Church can provide that understanding and reason, which is simply another way of paternally saying…DO AS SAY. The hypocrisy that Ratzinger and the Church engage in boggles the mind! It is simply pointless to expect and any reasonable debate with him, in Ratzinger’s mind reason must be encapsulated within his conception of faith and moral relativism is at the heart of all that is wrong with the world. Nevertheless, and I cannot stress this point enough, he neglects to mention, or rather I should say, he does not believe that he or his church engages in both the moral and religious relativism that the rest of humanity does! Regardless of the Church’s spurious claims to “Papal Infallibility”—which by the way was politically motivated—and even though there are 1.2 billion Catholics in the world, a good percentage of them consider him to be just another out of touch old man. And as he rejects us so we reject him and his bigoted, arrogant, and anachronistic Church!

Richard said,

"His message is one of prophetic humanism."

Ask gays seeking marriage how humanistic he is. Ask victims of clergy sheltered by Law how humanistic he is. Ask atheists, such as myself, how humanistic is after hearing yet another of his endless anti-atheist rants.

Ratzinger is just another religious bigot. Putting on some funny robes doesn't change that. I don't dislike the man because I disagree with him, or because I find his ideology abhorrent (though I do, of course). I dislike him because like so many fundamentalists, he insists that we must all live by his rules, his standards, and his preferences. I'll fight men such as him as long as I live.

Before I put any more thought into this, can we say anything? I still see spammers, but I'm typing into a bitbucket, here, when I try to interact.

Mr. Richard John Neuhaus,

Thank you for your essay.

You stated that "reason" was a focus of Pope Benedict 16's lecture at Regensburg University in September, 2006.

That lecture was attended by fellow church academics which is now also "spinned" by some in the west as the Pope to have "challenged Muslims" to recognize violence in advancing religion is “to act against reason and therefore to act against the nature of God.” It was not addressed to Muslims, but as a mere academic/intellectual excercise to his fellow Catholics.

In the last and in this century, violence is not to advance religion (Islam), but that it was the impetus and a uniting force to go against corrupt, unjust and tyranical governments, or to fight against colonialism. And the Pope would do better to address it in the context of Muslim groups engaging in terrorism. Other Popes, perhaps, may have called on the Basque Seperatist Group and the Irish Republican Army not to resort to violence.

As for media reports saying that Pope Benedict 16 has opened a dialogue with Muslims, the credit goes to Pope John Paul II. Pope Benedict 16 only endeavoured to do so after the reactions of Muslims to his Regensburg Universtity speech. In effect, Muslims are also saying, if you want to talk to us, talk to us directly instead of your fellow Catholic academic/intellectuals.

The Pope's sometimes (always?) dry moralism and restrictive intellectualism can be an impediment to real inter-faith dialogues. But, here's to hoping inter-faith dialogues under Pope Benedict's term as Head of the Catholic Church is constructive and beneficial rather than pastoral ones, or intellectual exercises, or negotiations for Catholic Church's activities.

Thank you and best regards

"J"

The wisdom of Solomon
An hypocrite with his mouth destroyeth his neighbour: but through knowledge shall the just be delivered.

Reason was also the centerpiece of his “controversial” lecture at Regensburg University in September, 2006, where he challenged Muslims to recognize that the use of violence in advancing religion is “to act against reason and therefore to act against the nature of God.”

“where he challenged Muslims to recognize that the use of violence in advancing religion”

And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

‘advancing religion” “the sword of the Spirit” “words of Necho from the mouth of God”
“I come not against thee this day, but against the house wherewith I have war”

“And the Lord said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a God to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet.”

“the nature of God.”
“Moses, See, I have made thee a God to Pharaoh”
“for God commanded me to make haste: forbear thee from meddling with God, who is with me, that he destroy thee not.”
“And Pharaoh said unto him, Get thee from me, take heed to thyself, see my face no more; for in that day thou seest my face thou shalt die.”

In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah was this passover kept.
After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Necho king of Egypt came up to fight against Carchemish by Euphrates: and Josiah went out against him.
But he sent ambassadors to him, saying, What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? I come not against thee this day, but against the house wherewith I have war: for God commanded me to make haste: forbear thee from meddling with God, who is with me, that he destroy thee not.
Nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself, that he might fight with him, and hearkened not unto the words of Necho from the mouth of God, and came to fight in the valley of Megiddo.
And the archers shot at king Josiah; and the king said to his servants, Have me away; for I am sore wounded.
His servants therefore took him out of that chariot, and put him in the second chariot that he had; and they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died, and was buried in one of the sepulchres of his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.
And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah: and all the singing men and the singing women spake of Josiah in their lamentations to this day, and made them an ordinance in Israel: and, behold, they are written in the lamentations.
Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and his goodness, according to that which was written in the law of the Lord,
And his deeds, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.

Look “In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah was this passover kept” This is the Passover kept, “And Pharaoh said unto him, Get thee from me, take heed to thyself, see my face no more; for in that day thou seest my face thou shalt die.”
“words of Necho from the mouth of God”
“I come not against thee this day, but against the house wherewith I have war”
“Nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from him”

the acts of Josiah, and his goodness
And his deeds, first and last

And his deeds, first
There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.
They have gaped upon me with their mouth; they have smitten me upon the cheek reproachfully; they have gathered themselves together against me.

the singing women spake of Josiah in their lamentations to this day

He sitteth alone and keepeth silence, because he hath borne it upon him.
He putteth his mouth in the dust; if so be there may be hope.
He giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him: he is filled full with reproach.

Job; and that man was perfect and upright
have smitten me upon the cheek

He sitteth alone and keepeth silence
He giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him

and last
Now gather thyself in troops, O daughter of troops: he hath laid siege against us: they shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek.

they shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek.

And they sent a messenger unto Joseph, saying, Thy father did command before he died, saying,
So shall ye say unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee now, the trespass of thy brethren, and their sin; for they did unto thee evil: and now, we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father. And Joseph wept when they spake unto him.
And his brethren also went and fell down before his face; and they said, Behold, we be thy servants.
And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God?
But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.
Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them.

Thy father did command
unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee now, the trespass of thy brethren, and their sin; for they did unto thee evil

And his brethren also went and fell down before his face; and they said, Behold, we be thy servants.
God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.

I am so glad to learn to listen to what the pope says and not what we think we hear. We accept what other spiritual beliefs believe, because there is a common thread that weaves its way through all religions. That is what being a Christian is all about and so what, if we want to put Latin back in the Christian tradition. It is part of the history of Christianity. We pray for everybody and hope that everybody understands the peace and beauty of Jesus' mwssage. We are spiritual beings living through a human experience in this day to day world.

Signed,

Not a Catholic