Over on Tigerhawk, there is a perceptive post suggesting that Benedict XVI's remarks were not accidental, nor was the overblown response unforseen.
We agree, and reading through the post, we were suddenly reminded of what we wrote here five months ago, over the Easter holiday:
Perhaps alone of the major denominations, Catholicism understands the need at times for military action to protect the innocent. While the self-loathing West amuses itself with exhuming long-discredited heresies, the Church is getting down to serious business.
Pope Benedict's call for "reciprocity" in religious tolerance is a great starting point. Though Islam projects an image of strength and fearlessness, its action speak otherwise. Why else enforce conversion with the threat of death? Why else ban Bibles and other faiths from the Arabian peninsula?
Pope Benedict is, to our knowledge, the first Christian leader to speak out in such plain terms.
Whilst the flaccid Anglicans and bitterly divided Methodists debate how much of their liturgy to gut, how openly to embrace moral licentiousness and turn their backs on Scripture, the Church is, in its own ponderous way, preparing for the Long War as only it can do.
Benedict has visited this ground before. As others have noted, no Pope in recent memory - arguably ever - has had so thorough a knowledge of Islam as the current pontiff. He has studied it for years.
There can be no question that he is attempting to force a dialogue to avoid a far more cataclysmic clash of civilizations later.
May God be with him.
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