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“The Road To Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions”
Tsvi Sadan, Israel Today — Pope Francis is an intriguing figure, and the name he chose for himself, Francis, after Francis of Assisi, is a telling choice, if only for the reason that he is the first pope ever to take this name.A Catholic friend has suggested that St. Francis, a wealthy lad who chose poverty, is an attractive role model for "Beat Generation" Catholics who witnesses and lived through the hippie cultural revolution of the 1960s. The hippie movement changed the Western world forever by turning, among other things, anti-war and peace sentiments into prominent social values.
In many ways, the Beat Generation ushered in today's ideal of multiculturalism that is affecting religion by placing all faiths on the same plane of truth and importance.
It is within this context of the 1960s that the famous Vatican II Council released the ecclesiastical document Nostra Aetate that dealt with relations between the Church and non-Christian religions.
Regarding Islam, it stated that "the Church regards with esteem also the Moslems. They adore the one God, living and subsisting in Himself; merciful and all- powerful, the Creator of heaven and earth … they take pains to submit wholeheartedly to even His inscrutable decrees, just as Abraham, with whom the faith of Islam takes pleasure in linking itself, submitted to God … they value the moral life and worship God…"
In this light we can better understand Pope Francis' remarkable comments to journalists as he flew back to Rome following an appearance before the European Parliament in Strasburg on Tuesday. Nick Squires from The Telegraph quoted the Pope as saying the following regarding possible dialogue with the Islamic State (ISIS): "The door is always open … I never say 'all is lost', never."
Though Christians and other minorities have been subjected to "barbaric acts of violence" by an "unjust aggressor," the Pope seems to be saying that the only legitimate way to stop the Islamic State's violent expansion is through peace talks, that by their very nature look for compromises.
It is legitimate to try to stop an unjust aggressor, said the Pope, while at the same time warning of "another threat, that of state terrorism … Each state, for its own part, feels it has the right to massacre terrorists. But so many innocent people perish at the same time as the terrorists."
Just to make the picture clear, the states the Pope spoke of that are today busy massacring terrorists are mainly Israel, America, Great Britain and France.
According to the Pope, fighting the Islamic State is possible only "with international consensus. No country can, on its own, stop an unjust aggressor." In other words, since such consensus can never be achieved, entities like the Islamic State can only be stopped through peace talks, if at all.
There was a humorous slogan during the 1960s that went something like this: "If you wanna be a hippie, put a flower in your pipi." Unbelievable as it may sound, the representative of Christianity on earth believes that somehow "flower power" can prevail over a horde of jihadists whose ultimate goal is to raise the flag of the Caliphate over St. Peter’s Basilica.
It was of people like this that is has been said, "The road to hell is paved with good intentions."
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The God Of Abraham, Isaac, And Jacob Regarding Israel
And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. ~ Genesis 12:3