In his speech “Faith, Reason, and the University” earlier this week, Pope Benedict quoted the Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Paleologus,” who said, “Show me just what Mohammed 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.”
Not surprisingly, many Muslims are outraged, not by the historical fact that Islam (by the teaching and example of its founder) did spread through violence, but the fact that someone brought this inconvenient truth up.
A spokeswoman for the Pakistani Foreign Ministry, Tasnim Aslam, warned, “Anyone who describes Islam as a religion as intolerant encourages violence.” So let me get this straight. If we say that Islam is intolerant, Muslims will react intolerantly.
Doesn’t that prove the point?
About Stan Guthrie
Stan Guthrie is an editor at large for Christianity Today magazine and for the Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview. His latest book is God's Story in 66 Verses. He also is author of All that Jesus Asks: How His Questions Can Teach and Transform Us, Missions in the Third Millennium: 21 Key Trends for the 21st Century, and A Concise Guide to Bible Prophecy. He is co-author of The Sacrament of Evangelism. Besides authoring, writing, and editing books, Stan is a literary agent, bringing together good authors, good books, and good publishers.
Stan writes the monthly Priorities colum for BreakPoint.org. He has appeared on National Public Radio's Tell Me More, WGN's Milt Rosenberg program, and many Christian shows, including The Eric Metaxas Show and Moody Radio's New Day Florida. A licensed minister and an inspirational speaker, he served as moderator for the Christian Book Expo panel discussion, Does the God of Christianity Exist, and What Difference Does It Make?
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