The Pope: On God and Reason

While researching the uproar about the Pope's supposedly anti-Islamic statement, the following is an interesting editorial I stumbled across:

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1535812,00.html

Time's Jeff Israely argues that the intent of the Pope's speech has been greatly distorted. At its essence, the Pope is asking the following question:

Is the conviction that acting unreasonably contradicts God's nature... always and intrinsically true?

This is something that is very important for all of us to consider today as we try to make sense of violence sparked by religious fervor. The Pope's contention, according to Israely, is that there are two popular perspectives today. The first is that God is intrinsically tied to reason, the belief more common amongst the Christian West. The second is that God absolutely transcends reason, the belief more common amongst the Muslim Middle East. It seems rather simplistic to say that one perspective applies only to one religion. Rather, I would argue this dichotomy is a precarious one for both Christianity and Islam.

For example, esteeming Moses' willingness to slit the throat of his son is a common element in both religions and one that is difficult to make sense of if God doesn't transcend reason. Similarly, both religions extol Solomon's great wisdom. Nonetheless, this dichotomy is an important one to consider. When is one properly adhering to one's religion even when one acts counter to the dictates of reason?

Thoughts?