Home
/
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
/
Losing faith in reason
Losing faith in reason
Apr 20, 2025 2:37 PM

A lack of reason may lead to violence and an inability to respond to crises, but that didn’t stop the West from abandoning it. In a new article for the Catholic World Report, Acton’s Samuel Gregg reflects on Pope Benedict XVI and his 2006 address near Regensburg, Germany. “Ten years later,” Gregg laments, the West is “still in denial.”

On September 12, 2006 Benedict made global news with his lecture–his words enraged, gained support, and were analyzed countless times. The speech was concerned with the “deep problems of faith and reason that characterize the West and Christianity today,” particularly in relation to Islam. Despite causing great controversy, this speech is considered to be one of the most important papal addresses on world affairs. Benedict argued that our understanding of the divine ultimately creates the foundation for how we view and “can judge particular human choices and actions to be unreasonable.” Gregg continues:

mentators on the Regensburg Address did not, however, observe that the Pope declined to proceed to engage in a detailed analysis of why and how such a conception of God may have affected Islamic theology and Islamic practice. Nor did he explore the mindset of those Muslims who invoke Allah to justify jihadist violence. Instead, Benedict immediately pivoted to discussing the place of reason in Christianity and Western culture more generally. In fact, in the speech’s very last paragraph, Benedict called upon his audience “to rediscover” the “great logos”: “this breadth of reason” which, he maintained, orthodox Christianity has always regarded as a prominent feature of God’s nature. The pope’s use of the word “rediscover” indicated that something had been lost and that much of the West and the Christian world had themselves fallen into the grip of other forms of un-reason. Irrationality can, after all, manifest itself in expressions other than mindless violence.

That irrationality is loose and ravaging much of the West—especially in those institutions which are supposed to be temples of reason, i.e., universities—is hard to deny. Take, for instance, those presently trying to turn Western educational institutions into one gigantic “safe space.” In this cocoon, those who maintain, for instance, that gender theory fails basic tests of logic, or that the welfare state has negative cultural effects, or that not all forms of inequality are in fact unjust (to name just some propositions which many today consider offensive), are regularly designated as “haters” or some word to which the suffix “phobe” is attached.

Continue reading “Regensburg Revisted: Ten Years Later, A West Still in Denial.”

Comments
Welcome to mreligion comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
Verse of the Day
  Commentary on Today's Verse   Commentary on Psalm 94:12-23   (Read Psalm 94:12-23)   That man is blessed, who, under the chastening of the Lord, is taught his will and his truths, from his holy word, and by the Holy Spirit. He should see mercy through his sufferings. There is a rest remaining for the people of God after the days of their...
Verse of the Day
  Commentary on Today's Verse   Chapter Contents   The safety of the godly.   We must not rely upon men and means, instruments and second causes. Shall I depend upon the strength of the hills? upon princes and great men? No; my confidence is in God only. Or, we must lift up our eyes above the hills; we must look to God who...
Verse of the Day
  Commentary on Today's Verse   Commentary on John 14:1-11   (Read John 14:1-11)   Here are three words, upon any of which stress may be laid. Upon the word troubled. Be not cast down and disquieted. The word heart. Let your heart be kept with full trust in God. The word your. However others are overwhelmed with the sorrows of this present time,...
Verse of the Day
  Commentary on Today's Verse   Commentary on John 16:28-33   (Read John 16:28-33)   Here is a plain declaration of Christ's coming from the Father, and his return to him. The Redeemer, in his entrance, was God manifest in the flesh, and in his departure was received up into glory. By this saying the disciples improved in knowledge. Also in faith; Now are...
Verse of the Day
  Commentary on Today's Verse   Commentary on Ephesians 4:29-32   (Read Ephesians 4:29-32)   Filthy words proceed from corruption in the speaker, and they corrupt the minds and manners of those who hear them: Christians should beware of all such discourse. It is the duty of Christians to seek, by the blessing of God, to bring persons to think seriously, and to encourage...
Verse of the Day
  1 John 3:11 In-Context   9 No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God.   10 This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what...
Verse of the Day
  John 13:34-35 In-Context   32 If God is glorified in him,Many early manuscripts do not have If God is glorified in him.God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once.   33 My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell...
Verse of the Day
  Commentary on Today's Verse   Commentary on 1 John 4:1-6   (Read 1 John 4:1-6)   Christians who are well acquainted with the Scriptures, may, in humble dependence on Divine teaching, discern those who set forth doctrines according to the apostles, and those who contradict them. The sum of revealed religion is in the doctrine concerning Christ, his person and office. The false...
Verse of the Day
  Micah 6:8 In-Context   6 With what shall I come before the Lordand bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?   7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of olive oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my...
Verse of the Day
  Commentary on Today's Verse   Commentary on Psalm 119:9-16   (Read Psalm 119:9-16)   To original corruption all have added actual sin. The ruin of the young is either living by no rule at all, or choosing false rules: let them walk by Scripture rules. To doubt of our own wisdom and strength, and to depend upon God, proves the purpose of holiness...
Related Classification
Copyright 2023-2025 - www.mreligion.com All Rights Reserved