Viewpoint: The Pope Has a Point

	• How the Pope's PR Machinery Broke Down If it was so easy to foresee that Benedict's remarks about Islam would set off a furor, why didn't the Vatican anticipate it? • Does Islam Flout Reason? Why the Pope's Case Is a Flimsy One Viewpoint: The issue is important, but Benedict has presented neither the evidence nor insight to make his argument stick • The Pontiff Has a Point His take on Islam, however clumsy, raises tough truths about reason and religion • The First Casualty of the Pope's Islam Speech Leaders across the Muslim world are furious over Benedict's provocative comments, and now his first trip to a Muslim country, soon planned for Turkey, may be in jeopardy as a resultn • Benedict and Islam Written by TIME blogger Andrew Sullivan • A Forced Argument on Forced Conversions Viewpoint: Kidnapped journalists converting at gunpoint. The Pope quoting a 14th century Byzantine emperor. The sudden focus on forced conversions to Islam reflects a fundamental misreading of that religion's history • Excerpts from Pope Benedict XVI's Speech Given at the University of Regensburg on Sept. 12, 2006 • Behind Benedict's Vatican Overhaul Though eyes are on his trip home, the Pope is (gradually) launching big changes back in the Roman Curia

One of the signature buzzwords of John Paul II's papacy was "dialogue." So committed was he to seeking common ground with leaders of different faiths that he all but institutionalized the process in 1986 by hosting the first of a series of interreligious gatherings in the medieval Italian town of Assisi. It was well known in Vatican circles that Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, among the Pope's most loyal lieutenants, was lukewarm to the Assisi enthusiasm. The German Cardinal was, after all, among the world's most rigorous (and traditionalist) Catholic theologians, skeptical of any attempt to water down differences among faiths. Still,...