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BinLaden is Right
Pope Benedict is leading a CrusadeCouched between so much cryptic ranting and raving, many analysts are missing what I consider the most important new data in bin Ladens newest message. It is a not-so-subtle cue to his Islamist followers: stay away from Pope Benedict XVI! Bin Ladens papal fixation has something to do with Benedicts now infamous Regensburg address that caused so much stir among some Muslim youth. But thats not the whole story. Bin Laden knows Benedicts crusade neither started nor ended in Regensburg. He also knows and fears this crusade is of a certain type which he and his pals dont know how to fight, and thus considers it the ultimate threat to his power base, thousands of times more powerful than the backhanded slaps against Mohammed, as were the cartoons. Bin Laden even knows the crusade is not specifically against Islam. Benedicts crusade can be likened to a quiet pilgrimage in the pursuit of rescuing human reason from the clutches of fundamentalism. It aims to restore reason as the great cultural meeting point for people of every race and creed. Benedict sees rationality as the only suitable launching pad of all true faith, but bin Laden sees it as the great obstacle to his manipulation of the masses. While Benedict sees faith and reason as mutually enriching sources of truth, bin Laden sees the former as incompatible with the later (because reason blocks blind obedience to violence). And while Benedict claims God can never command us to do evil because the first universal moral dictate of reason "do good and avoid evil" reflects his loving voice, bin Laden on the other hand claims Allah can do whatever he pleases, evil included. Pope Benedict is saying what Christianity has said since the middle ages and reformation: Think about God and apply the rationality He gave you to approach him. Fundamentalism rejects the use of reason because it threatens the ability of fundamentalists to demand blind obedience. The one thing a demagogue like Bin Laden cannot abide is followers who think about morality and do not accept being willingly blinded - nor blindly accept commands to do violence just on his say-so . Posted by: OldSpook 2008-03-21 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=234831 |