The Post-Modern Meets Violence

In an LA Times opinion piece, reprinted in the Houston Chronicle on September 24, 2006, as Pope asked the right questions, George Weigel summarizes one of Pope Benedict's major points in his address at the University of Regensburg.

If the West's high culture keeps playing in the sandbox of postmodern irrationalism in which there is "your truth" and "my truth" but nothing such as "the truth" the West will be unable to defend itself. Why? Because the West won't be able to give reasons why its commitments to civility, tolerance, human rights and the rule of law are worth defending.

Of course, the Pope also noted that irrational violence, as practiced by certain elements of Islam, "is incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the (human) soul."

Weigel reminds me of an observation by sociologist Os Guiness in a message for The Veritas Forum about the major issues of the next generation. One issue is, "What comes after post-modernism?" Another is, "Will Islam Westernize peacefully?" Weigel has combined the two - if the West cannot find a basis in truth for its values, and if Islam cannot find a peaceful path, then we face troubling times.