This week's hero/hack deals with the clash of civilization between the West and Islam.

First, my hero for the second week in a row (a hero/hack first), is Pope Benedict XVI.
Earlier this week, the Pope visited his home in Bravaria, and while speaking at a university, spoke on the clash between Christianity and Islam. The BBC:

In his speech at Regensburg University, the German-born pontiff explored the historical and philosophical differences between Islam and Christianity and the relationship between violence and faith.

Stressing that they were not his own words, he quoted Emperor Manual II Paleologos of the Byzantine Empire, the Orthodox Christian empire which had its capital in what is now the Turkish city of Istanbul.

The emperors words were, he said: "Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached."

Now obviously, for whatever reason, the Supreme Pontiff used a quote to illustrate his point. How did the "Arab Street" react? Not well:

"He has a dark mentality that comes from the darkness of the Middle Ages. He is a poor thing that has not benefited from the spirit of reform in the Christian world," Kapusuz blurted out in comments made to the state-owned Anatolia news agency. "It looks like an effort to revive the mentality of the Crusades."

Really, it is the Muslim world that is trapped in a Middle Ages mentality, ever since the fatwa that basically stopped all intellectual progress was issued around the year 1500. The 'mentality of the Crusades' was one of the West being threatened by a growing, and violent Islam. That sound familiar? Here's the real money quote, from the Pakistan Foreign Ministry:

"Anyone who describes Islam as a religion as intolerant encourages violence," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said.

Read that quote carefully. What was just defended was the right to a violent reaction to criticisms of intolernace. Well I guess that adage is true. The proof is in the pudding.

On the other side of the coin, my hack this week is US Senator Russ Feingold (WI-D), who criticized Bush's use of the phrase 'Islamic Fascists:'

WASHINGTON — Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold called on President Bush to refrain from using the phrase "Islamic fascists," saying it was offensive to Muslims and has nothing to do with global terrorists fighting the United States.

"We must avoid using misleading and offensive terms that link Islam with those who subvert this great religion or who distort its teachings to justify terrorist activities," Feingold said Tuesday in a speech to the Arab American Institute on Capitol Hill.

Bush uses the term 'Islamic Fascists' to differentiate between those 'moderate' Muslims and the ones supporting violence in the name of the 'religion of peace.' To my knowledge, no domestic Muslim groups have asked him not to use it, which puzzles me why Senator Feingold would really care all that much.

Next week, he will probably ask Bush to use "Cute-eyed puppies" to refer to Islamic Fascists. According to the Senator, that will solve the Middle East crisis.

Posted by Ryan S. on Friday, September 15, 2006 at 9:11 AM | Permalink |