Ok, one last comment on the whole Pope/Muslim thing. I found a couple very astute comments that really bring up a great point that I overlooked.
This isn’t about getting the Pope to realize he was wrong, or to realize he hurt Muslims’ feelings. It’s about making the world’s most prominent Christian leader appear subservient to Islam.
For more evidence of this look at this picture.
Classic Islamic law stipulates that Christians may live in peace in Islamic societies as long as they accept second-class status as dhimmis, which involves living within certain limits: not holding authority over Muslims, paying the jizya tax, not building new churches or repairing old ones, and…not insulting Allah or Muhammad. If they believe that a Christian has insulted them in some way, even inadvertently, his contract of protection — dhimma — is voided.
I know I REFUSE to be any of those freak’s dhimma.
Unless you’ve been under a rock for the last week or so you have heard about the Pope’s offensive remarks about Islam. Recently in speech the Pope
referred to criticism of the Prophet Muhammad by 14th century Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaeologus, who said everything the prophet brought was evil “such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.”
Muslim groups had this response to the Pope’s statement, in which he was only quoting a historical document not directly denouncing Islam himself:
Al-Qaeda militants in Iraq vowed war on “worshippers of the cross” and protesters burned a papal effigy…
Muslim fundamentalists, and western organizations like the New York Times, who are appearantly sympathetic to radical Muslims, have been begging Pope Benedict for a retraction of his statement. Sunday, the Pope addressed the matter but did not retract his statements. In fact, he reiterated his point that we should all reject religiously motivated violence.
To me, this whole issue is insane and ironic for the following reasons.
The only thing I understand less than the actions of Muslims on a worldwide scale is the readiness of social and political groups everywhere to constantly defend them. While I believe that, at least here in the US, Muslims have (and should continue to have) the right to peacefully worship in any way they wish, I also believe that there is a significant segment of Muslims worldwide that take the text of their religion to heart. These people are violent and dangerous because of Islam. The sooner we recognize and admit this the better off we will be.