Pope's message reinforced by reply

There is an unmistakable irony in the controversy surrounding Pope Benedict's recent remarks about faith, reason and violence.

Surely, the history of mankind reveals that faith which is not leavened by reason can lead to fanaticism, and that fanaticism which cannot be swayed by reason leads inevitably to violence. We should not need a pope to tell us this.

There are many examples of such in the Christian faith, where brother has fought against brother in war after war, and numerous examples of struggles between different faiths such as Hinduism and Islam where the root cause is simply an inability to accept that we all have a fundamental human right to worship God as we see fit.

It is certainly heartening that the leader of one of the world's great religions should recognize this truth. But unfortunately not everyone else recognizes it - or chooses to accept it.

Thus, rather than encouraging discussion and common understanding, the pope's lecture last week has sparked yet another "outrage" in the worldwide Muslim community, which seems to be outraged by everything except its own uncivilized behavior.

In a few sentences during the pope's lecture last week, he made reference to a historic tendency in Islam to conversion to the faith through violence. He quoted a 14th century Byzantine emperor who had found this idea of "spreading faith by the sword" to be offensive and who questioned whether Mohammed had brought anything good to religion at all.

The pope very clearly noted that the words were not his own and said he did not agree with them, but that didn't matter. Just bringing up the idea of Islamic violence was enough to enrage a third of the world, and lead to repeated incidents of violence enacted by Muslims against Christians.

In Somalia, an Italian missionary nun was killed by gunmen, and at least seven churches have been attacked in areas under the control of the Palestinian Authority. Moreover, rallies have been held throughout the Islamic world where Muslims have demonstrated their peaceful nature by burning the pope in effigy.

Al-Qaida in Iraq warned that its war against Christianity will go on until Islam takes over the world. "[T]hen the only thing acceptable is a conversion (to Islam) or (being killed by) the sword."

Even the pope himself has been threatened with bodily harm by fanatics who will tolerate no discussion of what is right and what is wrong, what is reasonable and what is not.

Still, it should be noted that Pope Benedict did not cower from those threats. He did not apologize for his lecture and did not withdraw his request for a dialogue between faith and reason. What he did do, somewhat slyly, was express his regret for the intemperate reaction to his speech - a reaction that only proved his point in the first place.

The rest of us should take note. After all, freedom of religion and freedom of speech are not "optional" human rights. If radical Islam intends to do away with those, we hope it will meet a determined enemy, both inside and outside its own religion.