Some updates on my thoughts about the pope’s recent speeches: apparently, I skipped right over the part that’s making the news. When quoting Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologus, the pope referred to Islam as a violent religion.
First, as was pointed out to me in an email this morning (thanks J!), it’s rather hard to claim you aren’t violent when your response to being called violent is to burn the pope in effigy. (shrugs) Perhaps it was a non-violent form of burning-in-effigy. The burning of the Danish embassy a while back? Done in the least violent way possible!
However, the pope may also not wish to throw stones while standing in his own glass house. Islam certainly isn’t the only violent religion out there... come on now, he was quoting from the era of the crusades. You can find many, many violent, awful quotes in both holy books. The level of violence among the followers depends largely on who’s doing the interpreting and in what socio-political conditions.
As for the anti-atheist and anti-science remarks for which I originally grumbled at the pope, I see absolutely no atheists rioting. Perhaps this is because atheism is not a religion and we thus manage to skip much of this irrational mob action each time someone pokes a stick at us? Oh sure, atheism doesn’t prevent people from being silly, mean, bigoted, angry, or even violent. However, there is no banner, symbol, or holy book of atheism we feel compelled to protect. We grumble. We type. Sometimes, we even throw a minor fit. However, in the end, our fits tend to be significantly easier to clean up after than those of offended religious groups.
