What does Benedict’s Ground Zero prayer actually say?

[rayofreason]

There is an interesting discussion about a Reuters story going on at another blog. Terry Mattingly of GetReligion started it with some comments on Phil Pullella’s report (headline: “Pope Ground Zero prayer seeks terrorists’ redemption”) on the prayer that Pope Benedict will say at Ground Zero during his visit to New York. The operative line in the prayer is: “Turn to your way of love those whose hearts and minds are consumed with hatred.”

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More at ----- http://blogs.reuters.com/faithworld/2008/04/12/what-does-benedicts-ground-zero-prayer-actually-say/

See the news story at http://uk.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUKL1079181020080410

I view this prayer as an existential threat to Jihadism and an example of why this Pope is exactly the Pope we need for these times. To call Moslems to Christ, especially bloody-minded Jihadists, is a classic example of the modern road to Damascus. He does not condemn them, but instead he battles the demons behind them. This is why Bin Laden calls the Pope a "crusader", as if the appeal to God to soften the hearts of hard men is the same as conversion by the sword. This tells us much about the Jihad mentality. It will also be seen as a huge, and potent, ideological assault on what many consider a pillar of Islam - Jihad - in which it is the supreme duty of Moslems to convert others to Islam (by whatever means) and it is the supreme crime for anyone to try to convert a Moslem away from Islam.

God bless this Pope. He sees things for what they are.

[Adsos Letter]

1. ?

"It will also be seen as a huge, and potent, ideological assault on what many consider a pillar of Islam-Jihad-..."


By who? And why would Islam be interested in a "call to Christ"? Certainly, Islam has respect for the person of Christ as a prophet but wouldn't the Pope's prayer be seen as simply another attempt by Christians to convert Moslems?

I would have greater respect for the Papacy if that office would stop condemning my Protestant faith as somehow illegitimate.

[rayofreason]

2. "...another attempt by Christians to convert Moslems?"

Yes.

And for many Moslems, that is an affront and an assault that should be met by violence. Just like any attempt to limit the expansion of Islam in Christian lands is an affront and assault against Islam. While Islam does honor Jesus as a Prophet, he is no "Christ" to them. There is only one anointed one, Mohammed who completed the message. To cling to a "false message" is heresy to Moslems, just as Christians have an evangelical streak in them that sees Jews as misguided (or even worse). The difference is that Christians no longer act violently to deal with heresy, while many in the Islamic world still do. I am a Christian heretic, but I do not fear because of it - had I lived in 17th century Spain, I would have burned at the stake. Were I a Muslim with parallel views (e.g., Mohammed did not write the Koran - it was mostly compiled later making extensive use of non-normative Christian texts in Syriac and Aramaic) and I expressed those views openly in a Muslim country (or even London, I fear to say) I would have cause to fear for my life.

By openly stating that Christians have the right to call Moslems to Christ, by appealing to God to soften the hearts of hardened killers, the Pope strikes openly at the ideological underpinnings of Islamic supremacism. Should just one Jihadi come forward and say "I reject the path of violence and accept Jesus" the reverberations will be enormous. That is what Bin Laden and the Jihadists fear. More so than bombs.

Anyone who takes a dim view of the right of any free person to convince another to change his or her faith is no friend of liberty. Anyone who is opposed to the free expression of ideas and the profession of faith of one's choosing without threat of violence is in the service of despotism.

[Adsos Letter]

7. So, now I'm no friend of Liberty, eh...?

Sure, he has the right to call Moslems to Christ...so does anyone.

The Catholic Church has very little to say in terms of liberty of conscience. The Pope would assert Catholic supremacy over conscience, if it were possible, imho. Hard to do that these days, without an army, or a king to carry out the Church's will.

You seem awfully quick to set aside a 1500 year history of Papal intolerance for those who simply asserted the right to decide for themselves in matters of faith, and that simply among Pagans or Christians.

[rayofreason]

9. You wrote..

.."Sure, he has the right to call Moslems to Christ...so does anyone."

That statement puts you at odds with a major dynamic in the world today - the Jihadist movement. Openly claiming that in many places in the world today would put you in grave harm. And yes, I am very willing to set aside past intolerance in favor of new tolerance for others. The Catholic Church no longer persecutes heretics, so I have no problem with Catholic beliefs - not all of which I share.

[struggle4progress]

3. "Turn to love those consumed with hatred" is an attack on Islam?

To be "consumed with hatred" is a very common human disease: it has affected people at all times and in all cultures

To hear the cry "Turn to love those consumed with hatred", and then think only of Islamic fundamentalists, one must completely forget this little parable: whoever has a pole stuck in his/her own eye is not quite ready to pick splinters out of the eyes of others

[rayofreason]

4. The point is...

...that the prayer is aimed at those terrorists who conceived and executed 9/11. The fact that others could use it is irrelevant. And those terrorists were Islamic militants who saw what they were doing as answering the call of Jihad. By responding to an act of Jihad by praying to God to "Turn to love those consumed with hatred" the Pope is setting out a clear ideological affront to the Jihadis. He is claiming in a very public way that what they did was evil and contrary to the will of God, not sanctioned by it. And the general nature of the prayer will provide affront to many other Jihadis - you can be sure that Hamas will be offended since they think it is their right to send suicide bombers into Israel until the entire land of Israel is under their control.

Just watch and wait to see the reaction to this speech.

This Pope attacks the Jihadist mentality on ground that they understand quite well - the ground of faith. His address into whether reason is in the nature of God or if it is just a Greek idea and that God if he willed it, could be capricious and unreasonable, was another salvo in this crucial battle of faith. The Pope hits them in a way that secular society cannot. Many in the Islamic world are repelled by the materialism of the West. On the ideological front the Jihadist has little to fear from a West that has (as Sartre said) a God-shaped hole in it. Islam may not be perfect, but for many faith in SOMETHING is preferable to spiritual rootlessness and decadence (which is how many see the West). On the other hand, to offer an alternative - to come to Christ - that is a real threat. Given a choice between a religion that seems to be in conflict with its neighbors (just plot all wars on a map - Islam has bloody borders) and which treats women (as a whole) poorly, and one that seems more enlightened and progressive (at this point in history), you can see why this is a threat.

When John Paul died and there was discussion about who would be Pope many said that it would be an African, or a Latin American. I told my friends "No -it will be a European because that is where Christianity is threatened. And it will be Ratzinger because he knows what is at stake." A year later I was in Rome and had a long and fascinating conversation with a theologian who knew the past Pope and knows the new one well. He made it clear that the current leadership understands the crisis of faith in Europe and the challenge of the issue of Jihad. What I have seen since then - the Regenzburg address that quoted Manuel Palealogus, the public baptism of Magdi Allam, and now this prayer, reinforces my earlier thinking and my belief that this Pope will be as consequential to the 21st Century and the grand challenge to Liberalism posed by Islam as the last Pope was consequential to the 20th century in the challenge to Liberalism posed by Soviet Socialism.

[struggle4progress]

5. Immediately preceeding line: "bring your peace to our violent world: peace in the hearts of all men

and women and peace among the nations of the earth"

Perhaps you have trouble hearing what is being said here or do not remember how events unfolded: 9/11 unleashed a substantial amount of hidden hatred in the US. Non-Westerners were randomly attacked and killed; a number of people were pointlessly arrested and unjustifiably detained for extended periods; across the country, it wasn't hard to find people saying things like "I don't care if Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11: they're all the same, and we should kill them." The theorists of torture waved 9/11 like a bloody shirt in efforts to win hate-based popular support. There were constant cries to execute as traitors people who disagree in public with the war-mongers

I do not doubt that when Benedict prays "Turn to love those consumed with hatred," he includes in his prayer anyone who plots attacks like those of 9/11 -- but to understand the prayer as only that, is to completely miss the point

[struggle4progress]

6. Pontiff Says He Heads to US as a Missionary

VATICAN CITY, APRIL 13, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI says his Tuesday-Sunday trip to the United States will be a "missionary experience" ... http://www.zenit.org/article-22282?l=english

Him gonna take a try at explainin the gospel to th'heathen, but it might be complicated a bit by th'sheer numbers o'heathen what considers themselves "good Christians"

[rayofreason]

8. A Missionary indeed.

There are many people here who are searching for answers and a way out of whatever spiritual bind alleys they find themselves in. Christianity might be the answer for some of them.

And while the prayer is meant for many, my point stands - it is a huge affront to Jihad.

I am always amazed by folks, including many here on the DU, who think that religion is irrelevant, or at best an anachronism the should be left behind as quickly as possible. Civilizations require a spiritual core, and to ignore that need a simply the opiate of the masses is a deeply flawed perspective.