Pope brings message of hope, faith for Advent

Religious zealots all too often have perpetrated cruelty in the name of religion, and Christianity has had its share of these fanatics.

Critics point to the Crusades, the Inquisition, the religious wars between Catholics and Protestants in Europe, and the more recent armed conflicts between the same two groups in Ireland. Of what good is Christianity, they ask, when it produces this kind of behavior?

But Pope Benedict, in his recent encyclical on hope, struck a balance. He pointed out that what are arguably the worst examples of cruelty against other human beings have been generated by atheists, not Christians.

Atheist ideology was behind the death camps in the former Soviet Union. While the Holocaust in Germany wasn't an atheist phenomenon, it was the product of the warped mind of an occult-obsessed Adolf Hitler. Islamic militants spawned the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and the genocide in Darfur.

Cruelty knows no ideological boundaries, and attaching a name to a group of people doesn't necessarily make them faithful followers of that ideology. Muslims are dealing with this issue right now. Non-Muslims blame Islam for major acts of violence in our world, but many Muslims are saying, "That's not us and that's not really what Islam is all about. Those people are distorting our faith."

Christians, I believe, would like to make the same argument. Because a person calls himself a Christian doesn't mean he is true to that faith. Even people who quote the Bible as their support can misinterpret and distort its teachings.

Jesus recognized this when he said, "Not everyone who says to me, `Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven."

As the Pope has noted, a world without God is a world without hope. "If in the face of this world's suffering, protest against God is understandable, the claim that humanity can and must do what no God actually does or is able to do is both presumptuous and intrinsically false….A world which has to create its own justice is a world without hope."

If we dismiss Christianity, as the critics would like, where do we find an ideology that offers a better world-view? Having no world-view isn't the answer; all of us, by definition, have one.

History has shown that atheism isn't a better substitute. Neither are any of the other major religions of the world. All have significant acts of cruelty as a part of their heritage.

Despite the abuses, the Christian gospel proclaims the existence of a just God who loves and cares for his creation and his people. As Pope Benedict said, "Man's great, true hope, which holds firm in spite of all disappointments, can only be God, God who has loved us and who continues to love us 'to the end,'….It is the great hope based upon God's promises that gives us courage and directs our action in good times and bad."

Along with faith, love and peace, hope is one of the great themes of Advent. How appropriate that the encyclical "Spe Salvi (in hope we were saved)," comes at this special time of the year.