Surely the Pope knows that even religions of the loftiest ideals-- including his own -- are susceptible to user error and abuse; and surely he cannot believe, given Europe's internecine wars of the 20th century, that violence is incapable of grounding itself in "rationality."

If Enlightenment rationalism seeks to deny recognition to all that is mysterious, ineffable or arational, surely this cannot be the intention of the leader of world's largest theistic denomination. I was saddened to think that because he happened to be speaking about Islam the Pope lost sight of all of this.

If the Pope would like to invite Muslims to consider the implications of their religious interpretations, surely he cannot believe -- at the beginning of the 21st century -- that invoking the discredited dichotomy between "reason" and "revelation" will show the way out. For the fact is that those who proffer "problematic" interpretations of Islam (or Christianity or Judaism) are every bit as rational as their critics; they simply proceed on the basis of a different tradition or system of reason.

By identifying OUR system, however, with reason itself and then denying those who disagree with us any claim to being reasonable we simply indulge in a very chic, self-serving game of "designer fundamentalism."

Moreover, we are blinded to any possibility of locating in THEIR system of reason tools, insights or principles with which we may be able to aid them in redirecting their thinking.

Perhaps, though -- just perhaps -- at the end of the day the answer does not lie so much in reason as it does in those quintessentially religious values of empathy, caring and community. Maybe through greater diffusion of these values we can arrive at a greater degree of mutual respect and avoid more of the undeniably predatory dimensions of human reason.

What can the Church do? One thing it can do is offer alternatives to the hegemonic language that has undermined dialogue with Islam. By "violence" we could include humiliation, degradation and contempt; by "extremism" we could include gratuitous proscriptions of Muslim practices, e.g., what a woman chooses to wear on her head.

On this adjustment, everyone -- Muslim and non-Muslim alike -- could embrace the value of combatting "violence" and "extremism" instead of seeing these terms as crafty little tools used by the West to perpetuate its global privilege.