Tim Noah of Slate has a fascinating analysis of the pope’s controversial speech at the University of Regensburg. He notes, almost in passing, that “the true whipping boy of Pope Benedict’s speech … isn’t Islam but Protestantism. The Reformation, he’s arguing, sundered faith from reason and led to the rise of secular culture. Many of us would agree with that statement and count it as a point in the Reformation’s favor. But the pope means it as a criticism.”
I am still digesting his argument, but the piece is well worth reading.
(Full disclosure: Tim is a friend of mine.)