[asa] Pope's Meeting With Science Representatives

Here you go! ~ Janice

<http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/1702721/posts>MEETING
WITH THE REPRESENTATIVES OF SCIENCE:LECTURE OF THE HOLY FATHER
Holy See Official Site ^ | 12-09-2006 | Benedict XVI
Posted on 09/16/2006 2:20:08 PM EDT by Traianus
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/1702721/posts [refresh browser]

Click above link to read article.

One comment:

"Notice in this Academic Address, not News Conference:

The Pope was not discussing the use of violence for religious
purpose. He was not discussing [fill in the "I" word] at all!!! He
was discussing: "FAITH, REASON AND THE UNIVERSITY" ... and stated as
part of his conclusion that "...theology rightly belongs in the
university and within the wide-ranging dialogue of sciences..." and
that "... the world's profoundly religious cultures see this
exclusion of the divine from the universality of reason as an attack
on their most profound convictions."

His final statement was, "It is to this great logos, to this breadth
of reason, that we invite our partners in the dialogue of cultures.
To rediscover it constantly is the great task of the university." The
"cultures" he was referring to had little or nothing to do with [fill
in the "I" word] - he was talking about the clash of "empirically
verifiable" vs. "theology" cultures, as he earlier had said, "A
reason which is deaf to the divine and which relegates religion into
the realm of subcultures is incapable of entering into the dialogue
of cultures."

He is being excoriated for using a quote from over 600 years ago "--
by the erudite Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologus and an educated
Persian on the subject of Christianity and [fill in the "I" word] ,
and the truth of both.": "Show me just what [fill in the "I" word
founder's name "M"] 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." The Pope made clear he was quoting an
ancient conversation. He made clear that this is NOT HIS words, but
that of the Byzantine emperor, and that emperor then went on to make
a "... decisive statement in this argument against violent conversion
is this: Not to act in accordance with reason is contrary to God's nature."

The last sentence was the whole point that the Pope was making during
his whole presentation: Not to act in accordance with reason is
contrary to God's nature. It was one of his many starting points for
his theological discussion of "Faith, Reason and the University",
part of his conclusion being, "...We will succeed in [broadening our
concept of reason and its application] only if reason and faith come
together in a new way, if we overcome the self-imposed limitation of
reason to the empirically verifiable, and if we once more disclose
its vast horizons. In this sense theology rightly belongs in the
university and within the wide-ranging dialogue of sciences, not
merely as a historical discipline and one of the human sciences, but
precisely as theology, as inquiry into the rationality of faith. Only
thus do we become capable of that genuine dialogue of cultures and
religions so urgently needed today..."

The reaction to the very profound things the Pope said illustrates
several things. One of them is that the people are completely
incapable of understanding the profound, and that Western
universities have fallen short in their education responsibilities,
including in their education of the NYSlimes' reporters and their
readers who can't bring themselves to acknowledge that they don't
know everything.

Another is this illustration that people should not be given access
to specialized knowledge and discussion, whether that be theological,
[fill in the "P" word], or scientific, without thorough and accurate
filtering. Yet another, but by no means the final, is that biased
people always misunderstand what even the finest communications expert says.

The Pope's major point is that ALL of the profoundly religious
cultures whether they be Christianity, [fill in the "I" word, the "J"
word, the "H" word], etc., should not be marginalized by being
snootily looked at as a "subculture" not worthy of inclusion in the
university environment, and that the university "culture" must engage
in reason with the religious "culture". "

2 posted on 09/16/2006 2:51:28 PM EDT by AFPhys
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1702721/posts?page=2#2

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Received on Sat Sep 16 19:49:49 2006