Pope Speaks Out, Obliquely, Against Religious Extremism

In the Wall Street Journal (April 14th,) John D. McKinnon wrote about Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the US and his speeches here. He also noted that the Pope spoke out against extremism:

A major theme of Pope Benedict's papacy has been the importance of reason and
faith coexisting. Reason without faith, he has said, leads to empty materialism, while faith without reason leads to extremism, as in parts of the Middle East.

...

Pope Benedict also has spoken out against intolerance in the Islamic world, provoking a violent backlash in the Muslim world with a 2006 speech in Regensburg, Germany. On Easter he baptized a well-known Italian Muslim in a ceremony that drew renewed criticism from parts of the Middle East. "The pope understands the danger of radical Islam," said a former Bush administration aide.

The Pope is right. (And there's a sentence I thought I might never write.) He's taking a huge personal risk of angering the Islamists by telling them that it is wrong to kill people merely because they are angry.

I support Pope Benedict XVI in his valiant stance against irrational extremism.

TK Kenyon

www.tkkenyon.com

Author of RABID and CALLOUS: Two novels about science and religion, with some sex and murder.