Re: The Pope and Islam

On Sun, 8 Jan 2006 14:44:19 -0000, "Energumen"
<energoumenos@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

typed:
>Pope actually "gets it" wrt Islam?
>
>http://www.radioblogger.com/#001282
>
>----------
>
>Father Joseph Fessio, a student and friend of Pope Benedict XVI, on the
>problems Christianity, especially in Europe, faces with the spread of Islam

i've cut this down to what i see as the more interesting bits...
with a few small comment...

JF: Well, I mean, he'll address himself to it in the sense that if
Christians take seriously the word of God, both in the Gospels and in
Genesis, they're going to be fruitful and multiply. As you say, that kind
of a reproduction rate is not going to work. In fact, this year, well,
last year, actually. 2005, there were more Muslims born in France than
people of traditional French background. Within four years, the top four
cities in Holland will be...most populous cities, will have a Muslim
majority. I mean, if we look at the demographics, which can change, but
they change slowly, I don't see any other issue for Europe, or any result,
than looking like North Africa, you know? Algeria, Morocco, Libya, Egypt,
I mean, they were all Christian, thriving Christian communities, you know,
in the early Church. And now, you can't profess your faith there. You
can't bring a Bible in some of those countries.
.....

JF: But as background, I want to say without exaggeration, and without
trying to become histrionic here, I see the trends...I've seen them for
years, in Europe, of depopulation as you've mentioned. And their
immigration is coming from the South, which is mainly Islamic. And there
are, I think there are 98 Islamic countries in the world, and 97 of them
do not have religious freedom. The only one that does is Mali,....

every time i see a figure i want to check it out!

.....

supposedly said by benedict(pope)
JF: Well, the thesis that was proposed by this scholar was that Islam can
enter into the modern world if the Koran is reinterpreted by taking the
specific legislation, and going back to the principles, and then adapting
it to our times, especially with the dignity that we ascribe to women,
which has come through Christianity, of course. And immediately, the Holy
Father, in his beautiful calm but clear way, said well, there's a
fundamental problem with that, because he said in the Islamic tradition,
God has given His word to Mohammed, but it's an eternal word. It's not
Mohammed's word. It's there for eternity the way it is. There's no
possibility of adapting it or interpreting it, whereas in Christianity,
and Judaism, the dynamism's completely different, that God has worked
through His creatures. And so, it is not just the word of God, it's the
word of Isaiah, not just the word of God, but the word of Mark. He's used
His human creatures, and inspired them to speak His word to the world, and
therefore by establishing a Church in which he gives authority to His
followers to carry on the tradition and interpret it, there's an inner
logic to the Christian Bible, which permits it and requires it to be
adapted and applied to new situations. I was...I mean, Hugh, I wish I
could say it as clearly and as beautifully as he did, but that's why he's
Pope and I'm not, okay? That's one of the reasons. One of others, but his
seeing that distinction when the Koran, which is seen as something dropped
out of Heaven, which cannot be adapted or applied, even,
and the Bible, which is a word of God that comes through a human
community,
....

JF: Yeah, that Christianity can engage modernity just like it did...the
Jews did Egypt, or Christians did to Greece, because we can take what's
good there, and we can elevate it through the revelation of Christ in the
Bible. But Islam is stuck. It's stuck with a text that cannot be adapted,
or even be interpreted properly.

i think that is excessive....but i want more data

......
JF: No. And then a second thing which he did not say, but which I would
have said, I might have said at the time, is that...and this is from a
Catholic point of view, there's no one to interpret the Koran officially.
the Catholic Church has an official interpreter, which is the Holy Father
with the bishops.

while relevant i think this cuts both ways...
it is the place of every islamic to understand islam...and there is
*certainly* much interpretation involved at many levels...
there is no way islam is monolithic despite the claims herein...

......


JF: Well, Hugh, I've got one of the very few things that I've said, which
I'm proud of, because it's become kind of almost a slogan to some, is that
home schools are the monasteries of the new dark ages. That is...and you
non-Catholic Christians have a lot more of them than we Catholics do, but
we've got a lot. And I think that is where families are having children.
They're passing on the faith to their children. They're giving them wisdom
and the knowledge of our culture. And we have an advantage here, because
the homosexuals, and the pro-abortionists, and the pro-contraception
people, are not having children by definition.

HH: That's in the Stern article as well.

'home schools are the monasteries' interesting comment...of course another
term for this is american fundies are acting just the way these two
are claiming islam is acting
isolation and not engaging with the modern world...

regards...

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