Gregory VII and Muslims

Chris over at the Veritas blog has an interesting comment about a recent piece over at Catholic and Enjoying It concerning an excerpt from the letter of Pope Gregory VII, pope from 1073-1085 AD, to the Muslim King Al-Nasir of Mauretania, which is this:

We and you must show in a special way to the other nations an example of this charity, for we believe and confess one God, although in different ways. Many of the Roman nobility, informed by us of this grace granted to you by God, greatly admire your goodness and virtues.

There are many who have, in recent years, accused our very own Pope John Paul II of indifferentism and universalism because of his friendly relations with Muslims, considering it more of a modern phenomenon. These individuals are simply mistaken. While understanding that the fullness of God's revelation was given in Jesus Christ, and the fullness of that revealed teaching subsisting within the Catholic Church, affirming all that is true and holy in non-Christian religions is, of course, consistent with Catholic teaching, as noted most specifically in the Vatican II document Nostra Aetate:

[The Church] regards with sincere reverence those ways of conduct and of life, those precepts and teachings which, though differing in many aspects from the ones she holds and sets forth, nonetheless often reflect a ray of that Truth which enlightens all men. Indeed, she proclaims, and ever must proclaim Christ "the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6), in whom men may find the fullness of religious life, in whom God has reconciled all things to Himself.

Nostra Aetate also quotes Gregory's letter:

[Muslims] adore the one God, living and subsisting in Himself; merciful and all-powerful, the Creator of heaven and earth...

Of course, as I am in most things that pertain to the historical teaching and practice of our faith, I am very interested in reading the whole of the letter from which this snip was taken, but I can't find it online right now.

Wayback to the Past

For a cool trip, check out the Wayback Machine!

From Minute Particulars:

If you haven't tried the Wayback Machine before, you're in for a treat. Like Google's cache feature, it can show you web pages as they were on a particular day in the past, a kind of snapshot of the Internet. Unlike Google's cache, the links on the page are also usually archived so it mimics what it would've have been like to visit the page and follow its links.

So, you can, for example, see a Yahoo News page from 1997, what Google looked like in 1998, or what the N.Y. Times webpage looked like on this date two years ago.

I even found my old web page. Far out, man!

A Victory For Life?

The partial birth abortion ban [CNN] recently passed in the House by a 282-139 vote. President Bush has promised to sign this into law if it reaches his desk, which looks probable at this point. Yet those supporting this form of murder have already warned that they will challenge it in court.

Ken Connor, president of the anti-abortion Family Research Council, said passage was indicative of "a tide that is running against Roe v. Wade, which will eventually be dismantled."

Bush hailed passage of the legislation, which he said "will help build a culture of life in America. I urge Congress to quickly resolve any differences and send me the final bill as soon as possible so that I can sign it into law."

President Bush is right about this, though it will not happen overnight.

The president -- unlike former President Clinton, who twice vetoed partial birth abortion bans -- had urged Congress in his State of the Union address in January to give him a bill he could sign.

The administration strongly believes the bill "is both morally imperative and constitutionally permissible," the White House said in a statement.

Reading this reminds me of someone I saw on CNN just the other night, arguing that this ban was anti-woman. The classic argument is given that keeping this procedure in place is pro-woman because it protects a woman's heath. First of all, abortion, by its very nature, is anti-woman, and this procedure even further demonstrates that. Secondly, this procedure is no better for a woman's health than actually giving birth. In fact, it is even more invasive and destructive, not just because of the fact that abortion clinics are some of the most medically unregulated facilities in the nation, but because partial-birth abortion involves partially giving birth to a late term, perfectly viable baby.

Truly this is a nation with no memory. American Feminism has historically been very pro-life, seeing all abortion as the worst form of oppression of women. These were the same women who fought for equal opportunity and the right to vote. It was only within the past 50 years that our culture has bought into the lie that abortion is liberating.

Susan B. Anthony said this about abortion in her publication The Revolution:

Guilty? Yes. No matter what the motive, love of ease, or a desire to save from suffering the unborn innocent, the woman is awfully guilty who commits the deed. It will burden her conscience in life, it will burden her soul in death; But oh, thrice guilty is he who drove her to the desperation which impelled her to the crime!

It is our culture that has blood on its hands because we have failed to provide opportunities to help women, faced with the choice, to not feel as though they have no choice.

Happy Blogversary

There have been many blogversaries lately, and I apologize for not recgonizing them all! Most recently is today's blogversary, Bill Cork at the Pro Deo et Patria blog. Last week it was Lane Core of the Blog from the Core.
And last Friday, Karen Marie Knapp's From the Anchor Hold.

Keep 'em bloggin!

What Matrix Persona Are You?
Hmm...


You are Neo, from "The Matrix." You
display a perfect fusion of heroism and
compassion.


What Matrix Persona Are You?
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