Ross Douthat wants us to appreciate what the pope is doing for Western Civilization. Which service would be his increased openness to conservative, Holocaust denying, schismatics who recently broke off from his own church and to homophobic, sexist Anglicans who are now considering a split from their church.

You can even have wives, if you promise to keep them in their place.

Ross wants us all to appreciate the importance of these moves in our global struggle against the irrational bigotry that is Islam.

Where the European encounter is concerned, Pope Benedict has opted for public confrontation. In a controversial 2006 address in Regensburg, Germany, he explicitly challenged Islam’s compatibility with the Western way of reason — and sparked, as if in vindication of his point, a wave of Muslim riots around the world.

Now it would be a cheap shot to point out to Ross that early in its history the Church went out of its way to destroy many Greek texts and that the only reason that we have Aristotle and Plato now is that they were preserved by Islamic philosophers. Likewise it would not be nice to note that The Great Rationalizer of Catholicism, Thomas Aquinas learned his philosophy from Islamic and Jewish commentators.

Now Wonks Anonymous is above cheap shots so he will simply provide a quote from someone active in the Maine campaign to repeal gay marriage rights. Reported by Joe Garofoli in today's SF Comical:

In rural Bangor, Roger Tracy thinks "the idea that Christians are supposed to be tolerant is nonsense." He just stopped at neighbor Jean Barry's to pick up another dozen Yes on 1 signs for the 100-member evangelical church where he is the pastor.

"Jesus wasn't tolerant of sin," said Tracy, a retired sheriff's deputy. "Homosexuality is a sin."

The guy is not a Catholic but the signs that he is picking up are paid for by the Catholic Church which is bankrolling the campaign.

Some subversive once said: "By their fruits you shall know them."

It seems to Wonks Anonymous that the fruits of this particular branch of the way of reason stink about as badly as the fruits of Islamic fundamentalism.