Pope criticizes Islam's jihad

Pope Benedict XVI has weighed in on the sensitive issue of rapport between Islam and the West: He said that violence, embodied in the Muslim idea of jihad, or holy war, is contrary to reason and God's plan, while the West was so beholden to reason that Islam could not understand it.

Nonetheless, in a complex treatise delivered Tuesday at the university here where he once taught, he suggested reason as a common ground for a "genuine dialogue of cultures and religions so urgently needed today."

In all, the speech seemed to reflect the Vatican's struggle over how to confront Islam and terrorism, as the 79- year-old pope pursues what is often considered a more provocative, hard- nosed and skeptical approach to Islam than his predecessor, John Paul II.

Ian Fisher

I really like this Pope. I understand that even the so-called "moderate" Muslims have their panties in a bunch over this. It is interesting that they go out of their way to divorce jihad from the rest of Islam, but are ready to take up the sword themselves if anyone outside Islam criticizes jihad. This is evidence that the very term, "moderate Muslim" is most probably an oxymoron.