Religion Within Reason: Pope Benedict’s Critique of Islam (original) (raw)

P ope benedict's controversial remarks about Islam a year ago at the University of Regensburg were a reaffirmation of the fundamental values of the academy. The pope was making the Enlightenment's argument about the necessity for discourse mediated by reason in the search for truth; he claimed that his Christian faith is constituted through reason, that it can contain no tenets, and legitimate no actions, that are unreasonable. He was not claiming that Christians have never acted irrationally, violently; he was making a moral argument about what a Christian's faith demands, and he was making this argument as a religious leader desirous and capable of engaging in a serious and reasoned dialogue with people of other faiths about their respective convictions. His speech demonstrated both his ability to engage in such a dialogue and a willingness to do so.