Pope's Panzer attack on Islam

Pope Benedict XVI’s trip to Germany got mired in deep controversy over his speech at the University of Regensburg by passing controversial statements on Islam and the Prophet Muhammad. While the remarks were not strictly his, but that of a 12th Century Byzantine emperor, the timing and the potential to cause angst amongst the Muslim community is quite evident. Further, the words from the leader of the Christian church on Islam were ill-timed and also irresponsible considering the political realities of the day. Also, by quoting an ancient figure of centuries ago, the Pope has seemed conservative and detached from realities and outlooks of the 21st Century. This at a time when the strain between the two biggest religions is clearly showing, with allegations on both sides arguing that the other is promoting extremist values to pursue a goal of greater penetration of their religious beliefs the world over – Muslims with their Jihad and Christians with their military pursuits. Moreover, the wider Christian world has always told its Muslim counterparts to part ways with extremism and give up its jihad against the western world. Christians have always argued that the likes of Al-Qaeda and the vitriolic jihadis are distorting the true picture of Islam. But when the leader of the church equates Islam with violence and Islam’s spread “by the sword of the faith he preached”, the ‘true’ mindset of Christians seems to be reflected. This duality in approach is sure to feed into the hands of religious extremists who are going to use this as another example of Christians wanting to spread their ‘crusade’ in the Muslim world by passing derogatory remarks on their religion and its Prophet.

Also, the entire incident raises another important question about the Christian church and the values it is propagating to its followers. Many find the Church as regressive and even oppressive, seen as propagating values that are disengaged with the world we live in. The Church’s approach towards AIDS and the use of condoms, its attitude towards abortion and allegations of forced conversions have left many followers disagreeing with its leaders. Further, with secularism spreading its wings in the former stronghold of Catholicism, Europe and America, the Vatican has always felt the need to find more followers in the third world and also to reiterate the core values of Christianity. In the process a great debate was initiated at the time of Pope John Paul II’s death on whether to elect a new Pope with new modern and moderate values, or to check the diminishing numbers of the faith by reinforcing the core Christian values. In the end, the latter won (at least according to the cardinals in the Vatican) and Joseph Ratzinger, the Panzer Pope, named after the German tanks of the 40’s, was elected to lead the Church into the 21st century. His recent comments on Islam are sure to re-ignite the debate on whether the election of Ratzinger was beneficial in the long run. Surely, a debate is needed to ensure that leaders of the two biggest religions in the world are representative of the beliefs of the majority in their respective religions. While the recent years following 9/11 have made Islam to be seen as a religion of ‘extremism’, the Pope validating such a notion only serves to harm inter-religion harmony apart from making the actions of a fringe few seem like the belief system of Islam itself.

The debate needs to initiated in the Islamic world itself, where they have to realize that today their religion is being hijacked by extremists and being passed off as the holy word. If the Muslim community extols the virtues of peace and brotherhood as the hallmarks of its religion, its perception in the non-Muslim world is the diametric opposite. A through deliberation on part of the community leaders and leaders of all major Islamic sects need to spread the idea of education and peaceful prosperity along with their religious beliefs as the urgent need of the hour, rather than bloodshed and violent confrontation that has unfortunately become synonymous with Islam.