"Does Islam Need a Luther or a Pope?"

From Christianity Today.  An interesting subject in its own right, but perhaps also a Rorschach test for whether one is (on questions of the costs and benefits of central institutional authority) a Protestant or a Catholic.

For years, Western pundits have proclaimed the need for a "Muslim Martin Luther" who could reform Islam. Actually, the pundits' description of what this reformer would do suggest that they're more interested in a Muslim John Shelby Spong than a Luther: someone who would dismiss the Qur'an as unscientific silliness and bring Islam in line with Enlightenment values.

The Muslim outrage over Pope Benedict XVI's comments now has some pundits saying that what Islam needs is not a Luther, but a pope of its own.

The interesting quotations to me are from Jonah Goldberg (who says that a strong institutional leader can "have the 'worldliness' to value flexibility and tolerance, and the moral and theological authority to clamp down on those who see compromise as heresy"), and Southern Baptist Al Mohler (who says the Regensburg dustup shows that because of the pope's institutional position "[his] comments -- whether for good or for ill -- are given a prominence that is unbiblical and dangerous").

Tom B.