Loving Life Versus Loving Death
Reader comment on item: Appreciating Oriana Fallaci

Submitted by linda (United States), Sep 19, 2006 at 15:42

Ms. Fallaci understood what Pope Benedict is publicly confronting. Whether you're a believer or not, the theology of Judaism and Christianity are religions of life -- a vigorous, joyous, rapturous mystery.

Islam is one of obedience and reward. Bin Laden himself said Islam loves "death" while the others love "life."

So in this sense Agnostics and even Atheists are closer to Christianity and Judaism -- because they embrace this life -- to be fully lived in joy. The difference is that for believers this is a life of a God living in us, versus one who is detached from us.

Pope John Paul II spoke of this unavoidable schism between choosing belief in a living God instead of an outside-you separate God. And now Pope Benedict has simply quoted a statement regarding the fact that Islam didn't add anything to previous beliefs, other than preaching the use of the sword. Can any Muslim challenge the CONTENT of what Pope Benedict quoted, versus their undignified responses? Please do so if you can.

---

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened for relevance, substance, and tone, and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome, but comments are rejected if scurrilous, off-topic, vulgar, ad hominem, or otherwise viewed as inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the Guidelines for Comments. For informational purposes, we identify countries from which comments are sent.