Pope, Muslim Controversy Prompted Many Editorials

On September 19, 2006, McClatchy-Tribune News Service published interesting editorials from several newspapers that felt the need to comment on Pope Benedict XVI’s “apology” to Muslims offended by his use of statement by Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologos that says, ”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.”

The passage was quoted during a September 12, 2006 speech at the University of Regensberg in Germany.

For more, please see “Editorials on papal apology.

East-West Clash Destined To Continue

Peter Philipp, Deutsche Welle’s chief correspondent and ”an expert on Middle East affairs,” according to the news outlet’s website, is of the opinion that “The latest events, which are on their way to becoming a new storm in the frequently mentioned and much discussed clash of cultures, should be buried as quickly as possible. The pope has made it clear that he didn’t mean what some people in Istanbul, Islamabad, Tehran and other places heard in his Regensburg speech.”

“Rather than leaving it to a Vatican spokesperson,” Mr. Philip said, ”he gave a public explanation himself. And that should have been the end of the newest conflict between the Muslim world and the “Christian Occident.”

To read the entire commentary, see “Opinion: Latest Clash of Cultures Should be Laid to Rest.”

By the way, I don’t think it will ever be laid to rest. A physical confrontation is inevitable.

Is Pope Benedict Dangerous?

In the opinion of The Guardian of England: “Pope Benedict is being portrayed as a naive, shy scholar who has accidentally antagonised two major world faiths in a matter of months. In fact he is a shrewd and ruthless operator, argues Madeleine Bunting – and he’s dangerous.”

Ms. Bunting’s views are in a September 19, 2006 commentary headlined “A man with little sympathy for other faiths.”

Do you agree or disagree with the Guardian

Editorials & Opinion On Muslim Reaction To Pope

John L. Allen Jr., Vatican correspondent for The National Catholic Reporter, contends in a September 19, 2006 opinion piece in The New York Times that, “Seen in context, Pope Benedict XVI’s citation last week of a 14th-century Byzantine emperor who claimed that the Prophet Muhammad brought “things only evil and inhuman” to the world was not intended as an anti-Islamic broadside. The pope’s real target in his lecture at the University of Regensburg, in Germany, was not Islam but the West, especially its tendency to separate reason and faith. He also denounced religious violence, hardly a crusader’s sentiment.”

If the pope’s real target was the west, he missed it by a wide margin. Even some of those he may have intended to reach seem to think he was aiming at Muslims.

For more, please see “A Challenge, Not a Crusade.” May require registration.

Outrage and understanding — The Toronto Star, Canada

The Pope wimps out — BuzzMachine, United States

Radical Islamists are the ones who insult Islam, not the Pope — Eric Mendoza

Dionne: Pope’s remarks on Islam troubling for church, West — Houston Chronicle, United States

A pope’s predicament — Khaleej Times, United Arab Emirates

Pope’s comments threaten dialogue — Chicago Tribune, United States

Should Vatican aides have warned the Pope? — Telegraph.co.uk, United Kingdom

Return to the dark ages — Guardian Unlimited, United Kingdom

Clashing civilisations on the banks of the Bosphorus — Financial Times, United Kingdom

An insufficient apology — Guardian Unlimited, United Kingdom

Critical time for our Pope — Manila Standard Today, Philippines

Lost in translation — The Age, Australia

The Pope, the Crusades, and the Muslims — Dr. David Yeagley’s Online Journal

Editor’s Note: This post can also be found at The Diplomatic Times Review, one of my other blogs.

The Editorial Observer

The Editorial Observer, a blog by Munir Umrani, editor and publisher of The Diplomatic Times Review and The Blogging Journalist, will monitor, comment on and link to editorials and opinion published in publications around the world. Hopefully, this will result in informed discussion and debate at this site on issues that threaten to heighten the clash of civilizations between Western and Islamic worlds.