Who you gonna believe? The Pope? Or Karen Armstrong?

Karen Armstrong, of course. 

The Oxford-educated ex-nun is not only a renowned scholar of religions, she writes from outside any traditional religious affiliation.  Unlike the Pope, in other words, she does not  advocate a particular religious world-view.   

Of Pope Benedict's recent remarks about Islam, she says:

"Hatred of Islam is so ubiquitous and so deeply rooted in western culture that it brings together people who are usually at daggers drawn. Neither the Danish cartoonists, who published the offensive caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad last February, nor the Christian fundamentalists who have called him a paedophile and a terrorist, would ordinarily make common cause with the Pope; yet on the subject of Islam they are in full agreement."

Armstrong concludes her short Guardian piece with this:

"As we see the violence - in Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon - for which we bear a measure of responsibility, there is a temptation, perhaps, to blame it all on 'Islam'. But if we are feeding our prejudice in this way, we do so at our peril."

By "we", Armstrong means the West, primarily the United Kingdom and the United States. Today's New York Times article on the increased threat of Islamic "terrorism" because of our -- British and American-- presence in Iraq  lends credence to Armstrong's warning.

I've read three of Armstrong's books --her autobiographical The Spiral Staircase, and two of her scholarly works --The History of God, about the three great Western religions, and The Battle for God, which examines the rise of fundamentalism in those three religions.  In fact, reading the latter inspired my first OlsonOnline post. 

I've yet to read her book on Islam, but it's on my list.  And it should probably be on yours, too.

Comments

[howard]

I believe the Pope was merely pointing out the free pass religious leaders of all stripes are giving extremist muslims to kill and maim civilians and military occupiers alike. Should homicide bombers be considered as martyrs with a free pass to paradise? Do radical monotheists have the support of main stream muslims in telling unbelievers to "convert or die." In Iraq today Sunnis and Shiites are killing and maiming members of the rival sect. Will this continue in Iraq and spread to other countries until one sect survives?

The mistake the Pope made was in failing to present his challenge in brief and clearly understandable language. Instead, his speech at a college was disseminated worldwide and allowed to be interpreted and misinterpreted by thousands of media outlets and tens of thousands of websites.