Benedict Denounces Religious Violence, Forced Conversions
Muslims riot, murder, burn churches in protest.
Is there a better synopsis of the last two weeks than that?
I have nothing to contribute to this discussion except my disgust. The subject became a Rorschach test for world leaders and media outlets. Journalists and academics, who should particularly value freedom of expression, almost uniformly came down against the Pope—or their idea of him—without apparently reading a single word he said. Then they nonsensically misinterpreted every single following statement.
Newsweek, in particular, earns my ire, for apparently arrogating themselves the task of berating the Pope. Their three pages are devoid of any mention of violence; you’d think only some hurt feelings were the result of the Regensburg lecture. Reading the article nearly made me vomit.
As for those directly responsible for the arson and murder, my gut reaction is that they should fucking burn. But, as a Christian, my gut reaction is not the end of the story. Christ calls on us to love our enemies, and to pray for them. As he says in chapter 5 of Matthew:
If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?
And so I say, in all sincerity, to those who committed these crimes: I pray for you. I pray that Christ will enter your hearts. I pray that you repent your actions. I pray that you find the forgiveness that God offers all men and women, who need merely ask it. St. Paul, one of the greatest saints, persecuted and killed Christians before he was confronted by Christ on the road to Damascus. I pray that, like him, your hearts will change. And I pray that one day, by the grace of God, many years from now, I will see you in our Father’s heavenly kingdom, where we may embrace as brothers and sisters, together there with St. Paul, Benedict, and with the Martyr Sister Leonella.
