As much of a relief as it is to see at least enough anti-dhimmitude in Cardinal Tauran to recognize the bankruptcy of Rowan Williams' musings, His Eminence still comes up short not only, as Robert notes, in his understanding of Shari'a law, but in his comprehension of the whole expansionist and political agenda of mainstream Islam, including its efforts to co-opt the Church into the process of its own destruction.

Beyond the question of Shari'a itself, Tauran is bedevilled by his own naivete. The agenda for cooperation in the stifling of free speech that he may be setting the Church up to embark upon in the committments he undertakes in the joint document he signed with the president of the dialogue group of Al Azhar University in Cairo should prompt us all to wonder how strong Catholic resistance to Islamist aggression is going to be. That document I make available here:

http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/interelg/documents/rc_pc_interelg_doc_20080226_cairo-declaration_en.html

Let us all pray that Benedict XVI, an aging Pope whose strength and energy may give out at any time, retains the wisdom to defuse this unholy alliance, or better yet, to destroy it before it sees the light of day. The best thing that could happen is that Benedict repudiates this document or quickly comes up with something to supercede it that overrides its most dangerous provisions or strangles them to death with a stultifying array of qualifications, but the continued presence of this declaration on the Holy See's website, so far without gloss or qualification, is not encouraging.

Posted by: templar at March 12, 2008 1:42 AM

templar, thanks for the link.

Honestly I am disappointed that the Church (or at least many of its members) is willing to make common cause with Islamic representatives against secular culture and the right of free speech. Islam may seem a strong partner in defending religious faith of all kinds, but really, Islam will only look after Islam and oppress all others. Why the Church would remove the sharp weapon of free speech in its dealings with Islam, a weapon itself has parried for decades, is to give Islam a pass from answering difficult questions about its basic tenants of violence and hate.

I feel that Catholicism is stronger for having to deal with criticism and ridicule, and such criticism and ridicule should be used against Islam if it is NOT to be the religion of Europe. Islam must be challenged.

Pope Benedict's Regensberg address where he quoted the 14th century Byzantine emperor was very heartening to me. Hopefully the Pope will put his foot down on any sort of alliance. We need a strong Pope who doesn't mince words, and I think we have one.

I pray that he will be defending the Faith for a long time.

Posted by: npabga at March 12, 2008 2:21 AM

Marisol:

Sorry for robbing you of the credit for this post, by giving it to Robert instead. Obviously I did not read it carefully enough before posting my initial response.

Your commentary on Cardinal Tauran's statement was very astute. I felt obliged nonetheless, to add the observations that I did to augment them, not to steal any thunder from you. I hope they will be helpful rather than offensive.

Posted by: templar at March 12, 2008 3:21 AM

Well I am all in favour of defusing misunderstandings. It seems to me, that every time the truth is flushed out into the open, the public view of islam as a cult of warfare, oppression, crime and abuse is strengthened, and misundertandings based on shaky assumptions of goodwill are shattered.

Posted by: Monty at March 12, 2008 7:11 AM

I think, overall, that this report is positive. In keeping with how the Church conducts "business", the statements by His Eminence were measured and rational. As much as we would like the Church to state strongly, forecfully and without equivocation their resistance to Islam and Muslim control of the West, that simply won't happen in the manner we imagine it.

I agree with TEMPLAR that the document he references is bothersome to some degree, but we have to understand that the Church needs to move slowly in these matters dealing with Islam. I'm sure that one aspect of their perspective was the reaction to the Regensburg speech and the possibility that more commentary of that sort will result in violence and murder that didn't need to take place. They are hoping, I imagine, that they can move the Muslim world without them acting in violence. It may be a false assumption, but it's a step they have to take morally.

Both NPABGA and Templar comments on the Church's position on secular culture and free speech and those positions being on the same side as the Islamic community are known. However, one has to understand that the secular culture has attacked the Church for over 500 years -- with great success. And I imagine that, right now, the Church is between a rock and a hard place.

On the one side, you have the secular, European world that has been hostile for centuries to all that the Church stands for and consists of millions of people who believe that the world would be a better place without the Catholic Church (even while they enjoy freedoms and systems of justice that stem from the Church). On the other end, you have a heretical religious/political movement that has been attacking the Church for over a millenia and clearly believes in a worldview that is contrary to the Catholic understanding of human rights, human dignity and the human relationship to God.

The Church doesn't have many allies right now and we should appreciate they are constantly put in difficult positions that they must be careful to extract themselves from. They can lead and there are many people, lead by a brilliant man -- Pope Benedict XVI, who are capable of giving a concise message and vision of the civilization. But they need help and support.

In the end, the Church might be the only clear institution in Europe that can assist in stopping the Islamic takeover of Europe.

Posted by: GuardianofPeaceandJustice at March 12, 2008 9:23 AM

Excellent posts, all.

As a Catholic, and as an observer of Benedict's comments to date regarding Islam, I have faith in the Pope. Hell, I never even heard of Paleologos before Benedict quoted him, and now I am using him as a screename.

Benedict will be able to walk the fine line between offering an olive branch to the Islamic world without permitting his message to be co-opted and corrupted by Islam.

Remember that after all the furor following his quoting of Paleologos, Benedict NEVER apologized for quoting him, he expressed regrets over the reactions to his statements ... BIG difference. Make no mistake, Benedict knows the darkness that is Islam.

Posted by: Paleologos at March 12, 2008 2:32 PM