The visionary Benedict XVI

Amen. Amen. Amen.

And thanks from one of your many friends in the Catholic Church.

"Why is it Christianity's answer to Islamic fundamentalism is to go fundy themselves"

So anyone who believes in objective truth is a fundamentalist?

This Catholic, too, is very grateful for this marvelous post. Thanks, Rod.

Great post, Rod. (Benedict also impressed the late Oriana Fallaci, who was not a believer, but was convinced that her beloved Italian civilization was under attack by radical Islamists.)

I particularly liked this quote from Benedict:

"Secular people are not a rigid block. ...They are people who do not yet feel able to take the step of ecclesiastical faith with everything that such a step involves. Very often they are people who passionately seek the truth, who are pained by the lack of truth in humankind."

I agree completely that there is a potential point of contact between seekers after truth whether these are secularists or believers. As long as neither group is dominated by fundamentalists or "true believers" I think there is a definite point of contact.

I think many of the young people who become Islamists are also "seekers after truth" who have been directed into an extremist, true-believing ideology. Perhaps there is hope for connecting on the basis of the common "search for truth" and moving beyond the need to have all the answers.

I would never make the assumption that the search for truth is futile, Simon. Only that we can never be 100% sure of our answers, and so have to allow our fellow humans the right to be wrong about their answers as well (or right about them, for that matter).

But I do think we have the obligation, at some point, to say, "This I believe" just so long as we never lose our ability to question our answers.

Rod, I also found this very interesting reading.

My question, though, is whether these "creative minorities" the Pope refers to here are actually going to iterate themselves in our times as physical and intentional communities, or whether this particular notion, not a bad one in itself, too often proves untenable due to the various issues that arise when people attempt to live deliberately apart from the wider society in such a way that they allow others to have somewhat arbitrary, and sometimes near-absolute, power over them and over their families.

Further, it seems clear that Pope Benedict envisions such "creative minorities" as groups which will exist to bring light to the world, not exist to keep the darkness at bay. Will the intentional community do this, or is this more properly the function of organizations like the Catherine of Siena Institute and similar groups?

I'm looking forward to seeing how you delve into all of this in your book.