Comedian Bill Connolly, disucssing his view of critics, stated in an in interview on NPR's Weekend Edition this past May that
critics are looking the wrong way. It's a given he's good, that's why three thousand people are sitting there with tickets. He shouldn't be looking at his own sensitivities but at the impact on the audience -- the critic is looking the wrong way.
As a note of clarification, I am not implying - by using a quote from a well-known comedian - that roused passions among Muslims are comedic in any way. Rather, it is useful to demonstrate that, much like critics, journalists are looking the wrong way.
"Three Stages in the Program of De-Hellinization" was the title of the speech given by the Pope. It's a thick read in terms of theological discourse. I am not a theologian. However, the gestalt seemed to be the ongoing efforts of Catholic theologians to remove the shaping influence of Greek thought from spiritual reasoning. Much of the New Testament was written in, and formed by, Greek culture.
The Pope's use of transcripted dialogue between Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologus and a Perisan to demonstrate that reason, as born of Greek influence, is part and parcel of religious thought may or may not be valid or even applicable. I don't know, I was not part of the audience - largely academic - at the Unviersity of Regensburg, where he previously taught. It is insightful that in his conclusion the Pope stated
The courage to engage the whole breadth of reason, and not the denial of its grandeur – this is the program with which a theology grounded in Biblical faith enters into the debates of our time . . .it is to this great logos, to this breadth of reason, that we invite our partners in the dialogue of cultures. To rediscover it constantly is the great task of the university.
It seems that only cursory treatment was given to churches being set on fire in Gaza or a nun being murdered in Somalia. Rather, the highlight was that reaction stemmed from remarks made by the Pope. It makes great video to pan from burning effigies and ranting crowds to the staid and vested Pope. Wouldn't the world, Muslim and non-Muslim, have been better instructed to learn the context and subject of the speech? Wouldn't the media glare prove more illuminating if it were trained on the outrageous and unacceptable overreaction of certain groups of Muslims? I believe so.
Nadia Taha @ September 28, 2006 - 7:17am
Wouldn't the public be better served if we could look at the statements in a broader context, ranging from the war in Lebanon and the war on Iraqis or terror or whatever, to the Danish cartoons and the German disembodied Prophet Muhammad? One of the biggest failures of the media is to provide a larger framework through which the public can see the issues of the day. Only once (on NPR, coincidentally), have I heard any mention that the pope's statement is seen as part of a repeated, steady barrage of cultural and religious (and political and violent) attacks on the faith of a billion people.
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