Today’s Sunday Sermon is on how actions speak louder than words.

Last week, Pope Benedict XVI, during a speech to some professors while visiting Germnay, quoted from Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Paleologus who said: “Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.” Now, I’m not going to leap to the pontiff’s defence or anything nor do I object to many of the comments which have come from Muslim secular and religious leaders which have strongly condemned the remarks. After all, one of the pesky side-effects of freedom of speech is that others are equally free to criticize or condemn some of the things you say.

But, being somewhat familiar with Byzantine history, I found the source of the quote very interesting. Manuel was one of the very last of the Byzantine emperors (the third-last if you want to keep score). At this time, the once-mighty empire had shrunk down to little more than the city of Constantinople itself (modern Istanbul) and the ‘emperor’ was actually a vassal of the Ottoman Sultan. So Manuel was not one of the ‘crusading’ emperors who led great armies against the Caliphs and Sultans of old. In fact, when Manuel led troops, it was often in the service of his overlord, the Sultan. The Sultan frequently demanded this service of Manuel and his father; partly to ensure they were obedient vassals, and partly to see if he could push them into rebellion in order to have the pretext for seizing their lands (especially, the strategically located Constantinople).

So when Manuel speaks about the evil and inhumanity of Islam being spread by the sword, he’s talking about events that he has personally witnessed. A number of his letters reveal his great sadness at the devastation being wrought by the Sultan’s army, which he was nominally a part of. So it’s a very interesting source that Pope Benedict XVI chose to use.

But enough of the ancient history, let’s now look at current events. Since the pontiff made his (possibly ill-chosen) remarks, what has happened? Well, an Italian nun along with her bodyguard and another hospital worker were shot in a hospital in Somalia. Since no one’s claimed responsibility, it’s impossible to know whether the two incidents were linked. But on Saturday, five churches came under fire from guns and firebombs in the West Bank and Gaza during protests by Palestinian Muslims. Two more churches (neither of them Catholic) were set on fire today in the West Bank.

So while I greatly respect the Islamic religion, I am forced to wonder whether Manuel II knew of what he spoke? And do I listen to the words of the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood when he says “Our relations with Christians should remain good, civilized and co-operative”, or do I instead look at the body of a murdered nun and the burned out churches in the land where Christ lived?

Don’t actions speak louder than words?

September 11, 2001

Personally...

The night before, I had taken my mother to emergency and was up rather late, so I had slept in a bit. I had just turned on the TV to CNN and was watching a bunch of people pointing upward and SLAM, I saw the (second) plane hit the World Trade Center. At first, I’m sure like a lot of people, I wondered if I was watching the trailer for some movie or TNT production. I’m embarrassed to say how long it took (including a phone call from a friend) before it began to sink in that it was really happening. I also had to track down my Dad who had just visited New York, to make sure that he had actually come back as scheduled (fortunately, he had).

My Mom died the following week, so that her passing and the events of 9/11 have become forever linked/joined together in my mind. I can’t think of one event without the other and the pain I still feel for losing my Mom is heightened by the sorrow I still feel for the many thousands who lost their mothers, fathers, sons, daughters and other family in the four planes, the WTC and Pentagon. It’s very strange and not at all pleasant.

Historically...

Stepping back, as a sometime student of history, I felt at the time (and still feel today) that this was an epochal event that will in many ways define the 21^st Century. The only problem is, five years on, I still don’t know how. Driving through the USA a few weeks after 9/11 and it seemed that the country had been transformed. But subsequent visits have shown that most of those obvious signs are gone and the changes (if any) have occurred on a level more deep or subtle than is evident to the casual observer.

Five years is not enough to tell. It will likely take decades before historians decide whether the events of September 11, 2001, marked the decline and fall of the American empire, the rise of a new Muslim jihadist sect, or the failure/success of the ‘war on terrorism’. One thing I do not doubt. The conclusions that future historians draw from this period will, no doubt, surprise those of us who have lived it.