Rainer Woelki, the Archbishop of Cologne, is vying with Pope Francis for the much-coveted Dhimmi of the Year award. His position seems to be that since Islam and Christianity both recognize a single deity as the creator of the world and revere Abraham as an ancestor, then the two faiths must be essentially the same. We expect this sort of thing from politicians, who are not trained in theology. But an archbishop?
Many thanks to Egri Nök for the translation, and to Vlad Tepes for the subtitling:
Transcript:
| 00:01 | Does one really have to take the AfD seriously? | |
| 00:03 | I am willing to take seriously the concerns and anxieties | |
| 00:06 | of those, who voted for that self-proclaimed “alternative for Germany”. | |
| 00:12 | But I think one cannot take the latest suggestions of the AfD party leaders seriously. | |
| 00:19 | They call Islam “a political ideology that is not compatible with our constitution”. | |
| 00:26 | Well well! You got to savour that slowly. | |
| 00:30 | A whole religion, yeah, one of the great religions of the world, is maliciously put in the pillory. | |
| 00:38 | One look into the Constitution would have been sufficient to realise | |
| 00:43 | that in our country, we have freedom of religion. | |
| 00:47 | In our country, no one may be discriminated against, or persecuted, because of their beliefs. | |
| 00:52 | Neither Christians, nor Muslims. | |
| 00:54 | Who denigrates Muslims, as the AfD leadership does, | |
| 00:58 | should realise that prayer houses and mosques are equally | |
| 01:03 | protected by the Constitution as our churches and chapels. | |
| 01:07 | Whoever says “yes” to church towers must also say “yes” to minarets. | |
| 01:12 | Even if the cradle of Islam, just as the cradle of Christianity, does not lie in Europe | |
| 01:18 | both of these world religions in their peaceful coexistence are now home in Germany and Europe. | |
| 01:26 | This means that the religion of Islam is compatible with the German constitution, just as Judaism or Christianity are. | |
| 01:35 | Here, devout Muslims, Jews and Christians, won’t let them be divided from each other. | |
| 01:41 | But those, who question the freedom of belief and religion guaranteed by our constitution, | |
| 01:48 | those should ask themselves whether they haven’t left the grounds of the constitution with their fear-fanning postulations. | |
| 01:57 | No, such Alternatives for Germany we truly do not need here. | |
| 02:02 | The freedom of religions in our country is without alternative. | |
| 02:06 | It is especially our painful German history which is a special obligation to us. | |
| 02:12 | Never again, people in this country must be marginalized or persecuted for their race, origin, or religion. | |
| 02:20 | Yours, Rainer Woelki, Archbishop of Cologne. |
Damned by his own words; he’s not a Christian, he’s not even near to being one. But perhaps now there’s a collectivist sitting on the papal throne, he’s a good Catholic.
-St. Thomas Aquinas (d. 1274), Theologian and Doctor of the Church. Quoted from his De Rationibus Fidei Contra Saracenos, Graecos, et Armenos and translated from Fr. Damian Fehlner’s Aquinas on Reasons for the Faith: Against the Muslims, Greeks, and Armenians.
As we have seen, Muhammed had neither supernatural miracles nor natural motives of reason to persuade those of his sect. As he lacked in everything, he took to bestial and barbaric means, which is the force of arms. Thus he introduced and promulgated his message with robberies, murders, and bloodshedding, destroying those who did not want to receive it, and with the same means his ministers conserve this today, until God placates his anger and destroys this pestilence from the earth.
“Woe to the shepherds who mislead and scatter the sheep of My pasture!” declares the LORD. Therefore thus says the LORD God of Israel concerning the shepherds who are tending My people: “You have scattered My flock and driven them away, and have not attended to them; behold, I am about to attend to you for the evil of your deeds” (Jer 23:1-3).
Would that Francis or this idiot in Cologne listened to the vastly more intelligent Catholic, James Schall, S.J.:
http://www.catholicworldreport.com/Item/4731/realism_and_islam.aspx
And another Jesuit who seems to be on the side of the angels: http://eponymousflower.blogspot.com.au/2016/04/madrid-famous-astrophysicist-and-jesuit.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+TheEponymousFlower+%28The+Eponymous+Flower%29
His Eminence , is all wet on this one. Evidently he is out of touch with the real world. It’s their behavior, violence, molestation,supremacy, criminal activity, refusal to assimilate, get jobs,get an education, and a number of other issues, that is in question. This myth of coexistence and compatibility is evident by the daily behavior of many in the Muslim community. It has been alleged that even the Turks who have been in Germany for decades are fed up with the recent arrivals.
Such mind boggling stupidity leaves one speechless.
There seems to be amazing amount of it out here infecting the ‘Christian’ churches of the West; whilst they themselves are hemorrhaging parishioners and $upport at what seems to be an increasing rate. Cause and effect, no doubt?
In search of increasingly-scarce $$$$, MANY churches in the U, S, of A even pursue gummint (OUR gummint, no less)$$$$ to assist even more Islamic enemies to come blight our cities and towns.
‘Twill NOT end well. Yeeeech!
This doesn’t sound like someone who is on the take. He’s on hallucinogens : there’s not even the faintest indication that he knows what Islam is, nor cares to know.
PEGIDA exists because freedom of everything democratic is at stake. The Muslims are the real Neo-Nazis in 2016 as evident in their fanatical persecution of Jews especially, plus Christians and Europeans in general. All that is front page news and in front of his eyes ( in Cologne ) but he doesn’t get it .
His TOTAL ignorance is incredible – just unbelievable !
I’m getting to the point where I cannot stand to listen to this propaganda anymore.
I’m not laughing yet, your eminence.
So the constitution is compatible with Islam but that doesn’t mean that Islam is compatible with the constitution. More failure to understand the fact that rights must be reciprocated or they don’t work.
But since the theory of government in Germany is that rights are granted by the government, not granted by Natural Law or granted to each individual by each other individual, whatever rights the state says you have are what you have, and whatever rights the state says you don’t have you don’t have. What anyone actually believes must be irrelevant so belief in Islam is irrelevant.
Forget about whether anyone else is actually respecting your rights or believing they should. The moralistic fallacy takes precedence; if the state says everyone is respecting and believing in your rights then obviously it must be so.
Bear with me while I proceed to ‘Fisk’ this guy a bit.
>> A whole religion, yeah, one of the great religions of the world, is maliciously put in the pillory.
It is not being ‘maliciously’ put on the pillory, it is being responsibly examined. I wish you would responsibly examine it too. You seem to have no understanding of it.
>> One look into the Constitution would have been sufficient to realise that in our country, we have freedom of religion.
Yes, but all freedoms and rights anyone has are subject to their respecting the rights of others. It is obvious that ‘freedom of religion’ does not extend to permit followers of a religion to deprive others of their rights, even if their religion allows it. Freedom of religion is therefore not absolute. Islam does not itself respect the right to freedom of religion of others, and there is a good case that there should not be freedom of religion for Muslims, at least to the extent that they deprive, with their religion, the rights of others.
>> This means that the religion of Islam is compatible with the German constitution, just as Judaism or Christianity are.
No, you are hopelessly confused here. You are saying that the constitution guarantees freedom of religion — for all religions, including Islam — and you have confused that with Islam is compatible with the constitution.
This is nonsense. Any ideology can be incompatible with the constitution. It is clear that Nazism is incompatible with the German constitution. By your thinking, if Nazism were a religion, it would be compatible with the constitution.
>> Here, devout Muslims, Jews and Christians, won’t let them be divided from each other.
Actually, devout Muslims will INSIST on dividing themselves from the others, in many different ways, because their religion tells them to make Islam supreme. Wait for the horror of it. It’s coming.
Comment: The whole piece is hopelessly naive, written as if entirely ignorant of the teachings of Islam, and is also logically confused. What could be more irresponsible than a spiritual leader in 2016 Germany stepping into Islam-related public political policy and remaining ignorant of the teachings of Islam, especially the parts including jihad which are incompatible with the constitution.
He’s not paying attention to the persecution of Christianity and other religions by Islam today. He’s totally ignorant about the history of the Islamic conquests of Christianity.
Blah, blah blah.
Sounds like he has read neither the Bible nor the Koran.
The man (?) is a pompous fool.
A Frau Merkel’s spawn & protege’ perhaps?? Just a wild guess…
I’d really like to ask this “shepherd” if he has had the opportunity to hear the testimonies of some in the flock in his city, i.e. the women groped, assaulted and humiliated last New Year’s Eve, not far from the cathedral??
Reading what this “spiritual leader” has to say, one really has to wonder how well he knows his Bible and the uniqueness of Jesus Christ’s message.
Lodrone’s quote of Jer 23 above a very apt one.
Where on earth do they find these morons? He reminds me of the Bishop of Bradford who told his dwindling flock that their town being over-run by Muslims was a “fantastic opportunity” to find out what being part of a minority was like. Madness.
Holy Hieromartyr Boniface, Enlightener of Germany, pray for us.
All Saints of Germany pray for us.
New Martyrs of the Turkish Yoke (from the Balkans and Asia Minor) pray for us.
Unfortunately there was only ever one Ratzinger. (Apart from his musical brother, of course, but you all know what I mean.)
“the Archbishop of Cologne, is vying with Pope Francis for the much-coveted Dhimmi of the Year award”
This is what I’m talking about Baron. Wonderful writing. Entertaining and to the point. Thank you again.
The archbishop babbles on about freedom of religion but, unfortunately, the religion he seeks protection for fails to recognize free speech or free religion. Nor is this dictatorial tendency hidden from view. Indeed, Muslims openly state, either convert or face the consequences. Will no-one rid me of this troublesome priest?
Ranier, why do you speak only of Islam as a religion? It is the power hungry totalitarian political machine that you should be spotlighting. Islam is your enemy as it wants to destroy your government, peoples and culture and replace it all with Islam, its peoples and shariah law.
I suspect that you have no idea about what you are speaking about. You should have consulted with your boss, the bishop before you spouted off on a subject that you do not understand.
I expect his orders came straight from the Vatican on this. This is now the official party line of the Holy Socialist Roman Catholic Church, with Comrade Pope Francis acting as the General Secretary. “Suborned” is too mild a word for what has happened.
I was in Cologne Cathedral recently. I asked the steward, where is the war memorial? Well, there isn’t one. Countless German men who were conscripted and sacrificed by the Nazi war machine have no memorial in Nordrhein Westfalen’s main shrine. They weren’t all fanatics. In any case, not even the fallen of WW1 are commemorated in German churches. There is no more vivid demonstration of the perversion of the modern German soul than this refusal to honour the fallen. A people that hates itself this much does not deserve to survive over the long term.
Meanwhile, I wish the nearly-dormant Christian Church of western Europe would get out of politics and back to its only useful 21st century role, looking after some great architecture. In a few decades, this will be all that is left of our civilisation.
Sadly all the magnificent cathedrals will fall shortly after the Western nations and peoples do.
The Ummah’s book instructs them to do this, and they will, being the faithful followers that they are.
Not necessarily. Slap a minaret on a cathedral, and PRESTO! You have a mosque.
Think Hagia Sophia.
The role of the Church is not to engage in politics with a view to serving fashionable utopian ideologies, neither is it to look after great architecture. Its role is to lead people to salvation in Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Unfortunately, the modern Catholic and – even to a greater extent – Protestant and Anglican churches of the West spectacularly fail in this mission. They have become so much of this world, that they seem not to take the basic Christian teachings seriously. It looks like they have turned their backs on God and believe that their job is to transform the earth into some sort of nice little paradise for hedonists.
They are afraid of even mentioning the eternal life that Jesus Christ offers to those who love him and suffer for him, as nowadays it would be regarded as too naive, too unrealistic – ‘a pie in the sky’. They are ashamed of the Cross and of the Resurrection. And do modern Catholic priests or Anglican parsons or Lutheran pastors believe in them themselves?
But they are not afraid to work for a totally utopian and ridiculous ideal of terrestrial paradise. No wonder, they are so much influenced by the progressive lefty ideology – complete with multiculturalism, Islamophilia, political correctness and all those things that are pushing the West towards the abyss.
Of course, there are exceptions, there are still a few Catholics, Anglicans and Protestants around who have a more sober attitude to God and to the world. But they are dying out. Only in Eastern Europe they still have some importance.
In the West, the churches are turning into a sort of humanitarian clubs with a few quaint traditions whose meaning is largely forgotten.
It seems that only the Orthodox Church (and, perhaps, some other Oriental denominations) is still faithful to the authentic Christian world view and – without preaching hatred of Muslims or anyone else – firmly believes in the teachings of the Bible and Fathers of the Church, refuses to serve any utopian causes, does not recognise Islam as something ‘equal’ to Christianity, defends authentic Christian morality, well, in a word, takes its mission and its doctrine seriously.
Islam is a spiritual threat, not a material one. The West became vulnerable to it as it lost its own faith, on which the whole edifice of European civilisation firmly stood. Today, when the whole life purpose of most Westerners is to get as much fun from life as possible and then die a peaceful death, the West can do very little to stop the spread of Islam.
Fun and games is not something which can meaning to life – either of an individual or a whole society. People can die defending a church. But hardly anyone will die defending a night club. A man can die defending his wife. He would hardly sacrifice his life for a hooker. A woman can die defending her children. She will hardly die defending a beauty parlour.
Modern Westerners have nothing to die for. Therefore, they are doomed to die for nothing.
I think he needs a speaking tour of Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sudan, Central Egypt, Aceh province in Indonesia, Libya, Mali, Mindano Philippines, Northern Nigeria, not forgetting Syria and Iraq.
Don’t forget to take a bunch of Bibles to hand out.
Then he can assure the locals of the love of his Church and how Christianity and Islam are one. As we say “mu mushkilla, hababi” ( no problems, friend).