Gary Hart: “I am pleased that we have joined the Official Truth Squad, because the main reason why several of us wanted to be on the…”

“I am pleased that we have joined the Official Truth Squad, because the main reason why several of us wanted to be on the floor tonight was to further discuss and hopefully enlighten each other and anybody who may be listening about what Pope Benedict was really talking about in Regensburg. Unfortunately, there was a significant amount of negative response and I believe inaccurate characterizations of the speech, or actually the class he was teaching as Regensburg, a university where he taught. And the discussion was regarding many things, but I think his focus was a hopefulness that faith and reason should always be joined together. Many of us have been speaking of this to each other, kind of challenging each other in our thought processes about why the reaction to his speech was so negative, and, in fact, why he was accused of being critical of Islam in the comments that he cited that were made in the Middle Ages during a conversation, an intellectual conversation, between a Christian and a Muslim about their faith, when at the time they could speak, I guess, honestly and peacefully to each other.”