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Entry: Pope Benedict XVI and Islam: Allah the Irrational Link: http://www.takimag.com/site/article/pope_benedict_xvi_and_islam_allah_the_irrational#1853 Post contents: Apropos of the Pope's comment, quoted by Mr. Richert, to the effect that the Koran "is a total religious law, which regulates the whole of political and social life..." - we should stop to think that one of the blessings of Christianity is that it is not a legalistic religion. Jesus replaced the complex legalistic structure of Pharasaical Judaism with but two commandments - to love the Lord thy God, and to love thy neighbor as thyself. As it spread, consequently, Christianity did not attempt to destroy and replace the systems of secular law that were customary in the societies that became Christian. Thus, the laws of the Romans, of the Salic Franks, of the Celts, or of the Scandinavians, were allowed to continue in use amongst those peoples, with only as much modification as was necessary to reflect the abandonment of paganism. Matters such as title to land, the relationship of man and wife, or of master and servant, or the succession of heirs to the estate of a decedent, were left outside the purview of the Church. The combination of Islamic legalism and fatalism explains why, despite propaganda about the "Andalusian Myth," and the supposed glories of Abbasid Baghdad, no Islamic society ever developed anything like Magna Charta. The neoconservative project of trying to transplant Western "freedoms" into such an environment, even if it really meant the historic Anglo-American ideal of ordered liberty, would have about as much chance of success as an effort to plant roses in Antarctica. Sent at: 2008 11 21