c. 2006 Religion News Service
Pope Adds Apologetic Footnote to Official Text of Islam Speech
VATICAN CITY (RNS) In his latest bid to clarify remarks that enraged the Muslim world, Pope Benedict XVI has added a cautiously worded footnote to the official text of the address he delivered at the University of Regensburg in Germany.
The footnote aimed to further assuage anger over Benedict’s use of a quote by a medieval Christian ruler, referring to the teachings of the Muslim Prophet Muhammad as “evil and inhuman” and “spread by the sword.”
That comment has sent Christian-Muslim relations into a tailspin. Numerous effigies of the pope have been burnt in public, a nun was shot dead in Somalia, and an Istanbul-bound plane was temporarily hijacked by a Turkish Christian who feared persecution.
On Monday (Oct. 9), a footnote appeared next to the offending quote on the official English version of Benedict’s address posted on the Vatican’s Web site.
“In the Muslim world, this quotation has unfortunately been taken as an expression of my personal position, thus arousing understandable indignation. I hope that the reader of my text can see immediately that this sentence does not express my personal view of the Quran, for which I have the respect due to the holy book of a great religion,” Benedict said in the footnote.
In his address at the University of Regensburg on Sept. 12, Benedict had quoted the 14th century Byzantine Emperor Manuel Paleologos II as saying: “Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.”
At the time, Benedict said the emperor had expressed his views on Islam “somewhat brusquely.” On Monday, the official text was altered to say that Manuel II had spoken with “a brusqueness that we find unacceptable.”
Since delivering the original speech, Benedict has said he was “deeply sorry” for the violent reaction to his address, and met with Muslim leaders and diplomats at the papal summer residence.
Many Muslim leaders have noted that Benedict did not apologize for actually making the offending comments and have called for an unequivocal apology.
_ Stacy Meichtry
Church of England Blasts `Preferential’ Treatment of Muslims
LONDON (RNS) A confidential Church of England report leaked to a newspaper has blasted Britain’s government for giving “preferential” treatment to Muslims since a string of deadly suicide bombs on London’s rail and bus system 15 months ago.
Excerpts from the report, published in The Sunday Telegraph (Oct. 8) in London, also claimed authorities had given “privileged attention” to Muslim communities and the Islamic faith in its “schizophrenic” attempts to mold Britain into a multifaith nation.
The newspaper said the report was written by Guy Wilkinson, the interfaith adviser to Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams. The church, in an official statement, described the document as an “internal briefing note” that was “not designed as an attack on the government but as a contribution to debate.”
A key part of the paper cited the July 7, 2005, attacks on London’s transportation system by four Muslim suicide bombers that killed 52 commuters, and the subsequent actions the government has allegedly taken to try to curry favor with Islamic communities.
Listed among the “preferential moves” were the use of public funds to fly Muslim scholars to Britain, shelving legislation aimed at halting forced marriages and encouraging unspecified “financial arrangements” to comply with Islamic requirements.
It said such preferred treatment has been accorded to Muslims despite the fact that Britain is an overwhelmingly Christian nation at heart _ 72 percent, according to the 2001 census _ and that the country’s estimated 1.8 million Muslims amount to barely 3 percent of the overall population.
“Indeed,” said the report, “one might argue that disaffection and separation is now greater than ever, with Muslim communities withdrawing further into a sense of victimhood, and other faith communities seriously concerned that the government has given signals that appear to encourage the notion of a privileged relationship with sections of the Muslim community.”
The overall tenor of the document, said The Telegraph, “challenges the `widespread description’ of Britain as a multifaith society and even calls for the term `multifaith’ to be reconsidered.”
The report said the government’s drive to make minority “faith” communities more integrated had backfired and that society had actually been left even “more separated than ever before.”
_ Al Webb
School Agrees Not to Display Disputed Jesus Portrait
(RNS) A West Virginia public school board agreed Friday (Oct. 6) not to display a portrait of Jesus or other devotional art at its high school.
The settlement coincided with a decision by Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the American Civil Liberties Union to drop a joint lawsuit against the Harrison County school board. The district will not be requested to pay attorneys’ fees, costs or other expenses incurred in the legal action thus far.
“This settlement sends a message to public school officials all across the country that they should respect the diversity of their students and not take sides on religious matters,” the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United, said in a statement.
Warner Sallman’s famous “Head of Christ” portrait had hung on a wall at Bridgeport High School for 37 years. A Jewish father, Harold Sklar, and Bridgeport resident Jacqueline McKenzie filed suit in June to block the portrait.
The board voted 4-1 to settle the suit by promising never to display any renderings of Jesus, religious iconography or other devotional artwork featuring teachers, philosophers, religious or inspirational leaders.
On Aug. 17, someone stole the painting that started the controversy and it is still missing. Students associated with the Christian Freedom Alliance filled the void by donating an inscribed mirror to their new principal on Sept. 1.
The brass plate on the mirror read, “… to know the will of God is the highest of all wisdoms, the love of Jesus Christ lives within all of us.” The plaque was removed shortly after the mirror was hung at the school.
Gary McCaleb, senior counsel for the conservative Alliance Defense Fund, which supported the portrait, said, “This lawsuit never would have seen the light of day if the First Amendment was applied today as it was intended to be by our Founding Fathers.”
_ Chansin Bird
Prolific Hymn Writer John Peterson Dies at 84
(RNS) Gospel hymn writer John W. Peterson, who authored more than 1,000 hymns and 35 cantatas, died of cancer Sept. 20 in Scottsdale, Ariz. He was 84.
“The burden of my heart is presenting Christ and the redemptive message we have in him,” Peterson said in 1970, according to the Grand Rapids Press.
Born in Lindsborg, Kan., on Nov. 1, 1921, he served as a transport pilot in World War II. After the war, he attended Moody Bible Institute, and in 1953, he graduated from the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago.
Peterson and his family moved to Montrose, Pa., where he worked as music editor at Singspiration, a sacred music publishing company. He relocated his family to Grand Rapids, Mich., when the company was acquired by Zondervan Publishing House. He then served as president and editor-in-chief of Singspiration for more than 10 years.
Peterson also served on the board of Gospel Films Inc. of Muskegon, Mich. In 1986, he was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame.
In the last 10 years of his life, he resided in Scottsdale, where he continued to write music and was a member of Scottsdale Bible Church. He co-founded Good Life Productions and a few years later established the John W. Peterson Music Company.
“He continued to write almost till the day he died,” Phil Brower, former director of worship at Grand Rapids’ Calvary Church, who ran Singspiration after Peterson, told the Grand Rapids Press. “He would work on tunes every day. He just felt that was what God had given him to do, write songs. And he wrote some huge ones.”
His song titles include “It Took a Miracle,” “So Send I You” and “Surely Goodness and Mercy.” His cantatas and musicals, of which about 10 million copies have been sold, include “Night of Miracles” and “No Greater Love.”
Peterson is survived by his wife of 62 years, Marie; three daughters; and a sister.
_ Chansin Bird
Quote of the Day: Mormon President Gordon B. Hinckley
(RNS) “Rise up and discipline yourself to take advantage of educational opportunities. Do you wish to marry a girl whose education has been far superior to your own? We speak of being `equally yoked.’ That applies, I think, to the matter of education.”
_ Gordon B. Hinckley, president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, speaking at a session for adult men during his church’s semiannual conference about the “troubling trend” that shows women in the U.S. are becoming better educated than men. He was quoted by the Deseret Morning News.
KRE/PH END RNS
