Comments on: Barroso speaks out on papal bull

By: Klaus

Klaus — Wed, 27 Sep 2006 22:10:52 +0000

np. I’m going to walk away from this one, but I’ll take a last shot at this. You are a consistently sensible blogger, but occasionally, you take your ideology up where it doesn’t touch the ground. No one has put any formal or informal limits on the pope’s right to free expression. Censorship is not the issue. The issue is: With influence comes responsibility. The pope, like any other public figure, has to live up to the responsibility that comes with his position. A man whose words have the power to change history should think before he speaks.

Free speech is also the right to call the Pope a political illiterate - to criticise. If you read around on the net, you’ll see the cry of ‘free speech’ is being used to stifle criticism of the Pope’s choice of quotation. Quite the paradox.

By: Paul

Paul — Wed, 27 Sep 2006 19:51:41 +0000

I fully agree with you that the Pope has been stupid and irresponsible in associating himself with this quote and you are right insofar as a disagreement as between the Catholic church and various Muslim leaders is a political issue.

But I think that it’s also a freedom of speech issue. If the Pope want’s to say stupid things he is entitled to do so. If others want to point out that he is being both hypocritical and disingenuous, that is also fine.

But I don’t think that it’s reasonable to limit what opinions the Pope - or anyone else - can or can’t express and, given that Christian churches in Palestine have been attacked and a nun in Somalia has been shot, I don’t think that violence is ever a reasonable response.

Ultimately, what it comes down to for me is that I don’t think anyone - regardless of how many people they claim to speak for - should be entitled to any special privileges. And neither do I thnk that anyone should face special constraints over what they can and can’t say.

Thanks for the heads up over the Deutsche Oper.

By: Klaus

Klaus — Tue, 26 Sep 2006 18:44:10 +0000

Yes, but that’s the thing. This isn’t a free speech issue, because the Pope isn’t some stupid little Jutlandish newspaper like Jyllandsposten, or an expat writer like Rushdie. He is the head of a congregation of 1 billion people, and should act like he is. He has every right to be stupid and irresponsible, but he’s still stupid and irresponsible. It’s a political issue, not a rights issue. The cancelled Mozart opera, that’s a free speech issue, because Deutsche Oper is not a political organisation of 1 billion people. It doesn’t represent anyone but itself. The Pope has shown himself to be politically inexperienced, unless he did this intentionally.

For comparison, when Ahmadinejad called for Israel’s extermination, who in the West defended his right to free speech? No one did, far as I remember. And casting that issue as a free speech would also have missed the mark entirely.

By: Paul

Paul — Tue, 26 Sep 2006 17:23:50 +0000

As far as I know, no European leaders have said that the Pope shouldn’t have been allowed to quote what he did - or that he should apologise for having done so. But they have been less than robust in their defence of the Pope’s right to say what he thinks.

By: Klaus

Klaus — Tue, 26 Sep 2006 16:45:06 +0000

But to suggest that he shouldn’t be allowed to quote from a document - any document - is unacceptable.

Did any European leaders suggest this? Or just some mufti?