This blog focuses on Delaware corporate and commercial law and I try to confine my posts to matters related to those business litigation topics, but everyone should be interested in world affairs and I am moved from within to share observations on important world events. I have posted earlier on the insights of corporate law professor Steve Bainbridge regarding the imbroglio over the recent university lecture of Pope Benedict XVI. For  a comprehensive review of what the Pope actually said, see the following link to Larry Backer: Law at the End of the Day: On Benedict XVI, Islam and the Politics of Abusive Discourse.  He quotes extensivley from the text of the Pope’s speech and provides detailed background and context. One observation of his that I found enlightening was the analogy of the reaction of some to the inversion of an abusive relationship. Here is a quote about  the type of relationship that might be analogous to the reaction of some to the Pope’s speech:

The essence of an abusive relationship is inversion. In a domestic context it goes something like this: the victim must do everything in her power to please the aggressor. If she fails in even one task, say setting dinner out immediately before the aggressor’s return from work, she will be beaten. She is reminded that the beating is her fault, she enraged the aggressor by failing in her duties and thus forced him to beat her. How much worse, then, and how much more deserved a beating she merits, were she ever to tell the aggressor that he is a violent man prone to get his way only by threats of violence and resort to actual violence. Indeed, such a statement from her would be provocative at best and surely will make matters worse by inflaming the passions of the aggressor so that the cycle of violence will only intensify as a result of her actions.

The reaction of many people follows a well worn pattern. They form opinions before they have reviewed all the relevant facts. This includes many in the mainstream press.  However I am happy to say that my "hometown newspaper",  the Wilmington News Journal, showed great insight and courage with its editorial today on the topic. Here is an excerpt from the editorial:

The point is that the pope said it is unreasonable to convert people at gunpoint. Something is dreadfully wrong with our age if this is considered a controversial stand.

Here is the link to the whole editorial:www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article