2006年VOA标准英语-Will Pope's Call for Greater Religious Freedom

By Sonja Pace
Istanbul
01 December 2006
 
 
Pope Benedict XVI is seen with Ali Bardakoglu, head of Turkey's religious affairs, during their meeting in Ankara, 28 Nov. 2006
The visit to Turkey by Pope Benedict XVI was overshadowed by the currently tense relationship between Christians² and Muslims even though the original reason for his trip was to heal the nearly 1,000-year-old rift³ between the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. The pope also came to lend support to Turkey's small Christian¹ minority and he stressed the importance of religious freedom. The question is, how will that be understood in staunchly secular⁴ Turkey, as VOA's Sonja Pace reports from Istanbul.

During Pope Benedict's four-day visit his every word was scrutinized⁵ in the Turkish media. What did he say about Turkey's role in Europe, did he mean it, would he pray in the Hagia Sophia, once the most famous of Byzantine churches, now a museum. Would he make amends⁶ to Muslims for his perceived slight of Islam in a speech in September when the pope quoted a 14th Century Byzantine emperor, who characterized some of the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad as "evil and inhuman⁷."

 
Pope Benedict XVI is seen with Ali Bardakoglu, head of Turkey's religious affairs, during their meeting in Ankara, 28 Nov. 2006
The pope's visit was overshadowed by the controversy⁸ over that speech and by the general current tensions between Christians and Muslims. But the original purpose of his trip was to meet with Patriarch Bartholomew, the spiritual leader of Orthodox Christians and to try to heal the rift between the two churches which goes back 1,000 years. Even that can be a sensitive issue, says political analyst⁹ Hasan Ulan of Ankara's Bilkent University.

"There is no harm, as far as we are concerned, in him trying to make up his friendship or alliance or whatever with the Patriarchate of Istanbul," he said. "But he should not be doing it in a way that would give rise to suspicion that he's trying to create some sort of Christian alliance against Islam."

 
Pope Benedict XVI arrives in Ephesus for a Mass at the Virgin¹⁰ Mary House, 29 Nov. 2006
Turkey has a small non-Muslim minority - including about 100,000 Christians, mostly eastern Orthodox out of a total population of 70 million. Their right to practice their religion is guaranteed by Turkish law, but there are restrictions¹¹, including in running churches or religious schools without specific permission from the state or owning property.

Istanbul-based writer and columnist¹² Mustafa Akyol says Christians do face problems.

"Turkey's Christian minorities have trouble in Turkey, that's a fact. They don't have full religious freedom," he said.

But, adds Akyol, restrictions on church-run religious schools, for example, have nothing to do with pressure by Islamic groups. Rather, he says, they are based on secular principles.

"The state does not want to see private religious schools. Nobody has private religious schools in Turkey," he said. "Muslims can't have their private religious schools either so the Christians don't have it either."

Still many Christians say they feel under greater pressure than their Muslim counterparts - often with a sense of being viewed as an outsider, of not quite belonging.

Greek Orthodox leaders hoped the pope's visit might increase pressure on Turkey to loosen restrictions that might allow the reopening of Istanbul's only Greek Orthodox seminary, which was ordered to close more than 20 years ago.

During his visit, the pope made no mention of specific restrictions, but he did talk about religious freedom.

"Freedom of religion, institutionally guaranteed and effectively respected in practice both for individuals and communities, constitutes for all believers the necessary condition for the loyal contribution to the building up of society," he said.

 
Pope Benedict XVI and Ecumenical Orthodox patriarch Bartholomew I converse¹³ at the St. George Church in Istanbul, 29 Nov 2006
And, later in the trip the pope and the Orthodox Patriarch signed a declaration, which again spoke¹⁴ of the importance of religious freedom and protection of the religious rights of minorities.

That might be viewed with suspicion in some Turkish political circles, says writer Mustafa Akyol. He says there is, what he calls Turkey's non-liberal secularism¹⁵. And says Akyol, calls for greater religious freedom are often seen as a threat to the state.

"If it [such calls] is coming from Muslims, it is seen as something which might lead to the infringement¹⁶ of our secularism. When it comes from Christians it is seen as something alien penetrating¹⁷ into Turkish society and it might be funded by the imperialists and so on," he said.

Modern Turkey was founded on a strict principle of secularism. But, says Akyol, it is important to remember that in Turkey secularism does not mean the separation of state and religion, but rather the control of religion by the state.

1 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

2 Christians   

n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Christians of all denominations attended the conference. 基督教所有教派的人都出席了这次会议。
• His novel about Jesus caused a furore among Christians. 他关于耶稣的小说激起了基督教徒的公愤。

3 rift   

n.裂口，隙缝，切口；v.裂开，割开，渗入

参考例句：

• He was anxious to mend the rift between the two men.他急于弥合这两个人之间的裂痕。
• The sun appeared through a rift in the clouds.太阳从云层间隙中冒出来。

4 secular   

n.牧师，凡人；adj.世俗的，现世的，不朽的

参考例句：

• We live in an increasingly secular society.我们生活在一个日益非宗教的社会。
• Britain is a plural society in which the secular predominates.英国是个世俗主导的多元社会。

5 scrutinized   

v.仔细检查，详审( scrutinize的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The jeweler scrutinized the diamond for flaws. 宝石商人仔细察看钻石有无瑕庇 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Together we scrutinized the twelve lemon cakes from the delicatessen shop. 我们一起把甜食店里买来的十二块柠檬蛋糕细细打量了一番。 来自英汉文学 - 盖茨比

6 amends   

n. 赔偿

参考例句：

• He made amends for his rudeness by giving her some flowers. 他送给她一些花，为他自己的鲁莽赔罪。
• This country refuses stubbornly to make amends for its past war crimes. 该国顽固地拒绝为其过去的战争罪行赔罪。

7 inhuman   

adj.残忍的，不人道的，无人性的

参考例句：

• We must unite the workers in fighting against inhuman conditions.我们必须使工人们团结起来反对那些难以忍受的工作条件。
• It was inhuman to refuse him permission to see his wife.不容许他去看自己的妻子是太不近人情了。

8 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

9 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

10 virgin   

n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的

参考例句：

• Have you ever been to a virgin forest?你去过原始森林吗？
• There are vast expanses of virgin land in the remote regions.在边远地区有大片大片未开垦的土地。

11 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

12 columnist   

n.专栏作家

参考例句：

• The host was interviewing a local columnist.节目主持人正在同一位当地的专栏作家交谈。
• She's a columnist for USA Today.她是《今日美国报》的专栏作家。

13 converse   

vi.谈话，谈天，闲聊；adv.相反的，相反

参考例句：

• He can converse in three languages.他可以用3种语言谈话。
• I wanted to appear friendly and approachable but I think I gave the converse impression.我想显得友好、平易近人些,却发觉给人的印象恰恰相反。

14 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

15 secularism   

n.现世主义；世俗主义；宗教与教育分离论；政教分离论

参考例句：

• Unless are devoted to God, secularism shall not leave us. 除非我们奉献于神，否则凡俗之心便不会离开我们。 来自互联网
• They are no longer a huge threat to secularism. 他们已不再是民主的巨大威胁。 来自互联网

16 infringement   

n.违反；侵权

参考例句：

• Infringement of this regulation would automatically rule you out of the championship.违背这一规则会被自动取消参加锦标赛的资格。
• The committee ruled that the US ban constituted an infringement of free trade.委员会裁定美国的禁令对自由贸易构成了侵犯

17 penetrating   

adj.（声音）响亮的，尖锐的adj.（气味）刺激的adj.（思想）敏锐的，有洞察力的

参考例句：

• He had an extraordinarily penetrating gaze. 他的目光有股异乎寻常的洞察力。
• He examined the man with a penetrating gaze. 他以锐利的目光仔细观察了那个人。