If it wasn’t so important, this would be silly. I really wish there were other things in the news rather than this, but it just keeps coming up. And up. And up. Once again, if one is to believe the blazing headlines, the pictures, the stories on TV, Islam is screaming for retribution as someone has "insulted Islam". Yup, uh-uh, sure. Whatever.
Why? Pope Benedict XVI made a speech in a university setting. The intent of that speech was to discuss the role of religion, reason, and violence, and he condemns the last. Who doesn’t? Yet, what has happened once again? Yup, the Pope quotes a guy long dead who essentially was a vassal for the Islamic horde that came conquering from the East, who was discussing the same topic with the Khalif, has “insulted Islam”. So, what do we see (10-1, you know where this is going)?
Once again, the Religion of Peace has exploded. Now, keep in mind, WORDS have been spoken, and not even the Pope’s own. A dead guy! Even though this has been in the news for a bit (been busy with other things), let’s take a quick walk through some of the things reported just today:
From News24.com we get this:
Kabul – Muslim clerics and students in Afghanistan said on Friday that Pope Benedict XVI had shown himself to be among the worst people in history with his "propaganda" against Islam.
Gee, isn’t propaganda something that takes place over some amount of time, with some amount of quantity? Yet, this was a one shot deal. ‘Course, I could make the observation that since most Afganis are illiterate, how do they know what his speech said?
A gathering of about 300 angry scholars in Kabul called on mullahs across the country to use Friday prayers to read tell congregations of the words the pope had used that linked Islam to violence last week.
"In the history of humanity, the pope has shown himself to be like Hitler, Lenin and the contemporary dictator and bloodsucker Bush," Habibullah Hisam, said the head of the Kabul provincial council.
"This is unforgivable, he has offended the rights and beliefs of 1.5 billion people on Earth," said Hisam.
Boy! B16 must be so prolific and horrible – how long has he actually been Pope and already he ranks up with worst humanity has to offer? Oh, he has "offended", that makes him a Hitler already?
And all it takes are words….no small amount of thin skin here, is there…
And it goes on!
The students gathered in a mosque decorated with banners reading "Mohammad is the messenger of peace, kindness, graciousness".
At least these were only words. An Italian nun, Sister Leonella, was shot dead (in the back) in Somalia by an enraged Muslims. Her response: "I forgive them". THAT is a religion of peace, not of retribution.
The Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer:
- In the West Bank and Gaza, Muslims attack seven churches.
- In London, the ever-dependable radical Anjem Choudary tells demonstrators at Westminster Cathedral that the pope is now condemned to death.
- In Mogadishu, Somali religious leader Abubukar Hassan Malin calls on Muslims to "hunt down" the pope. The pope not being quite at hand, they do the next best thing: shoot dead, execution-style, an Italian nun who worked in a children’s hospital.
- "How dare you say Islam is a violent religion? I’ll kill you for it" is not exactly the best way to go about refuting the charge. But of course, refuting is not the point here. The point is intimidation.
The pope gives offense and the Mujaheddin al-Shura Council in Iraq declares that it "will break up the cross, spill the liquor and impose the ‘jizya’ [head] tax; then the only thing acceptable is conversion or the sword." This to protest the accusation that Islam might be spread by the sword.
Not exactly showing a reverence for life, a love of reasonable discussion, a need to actually address what was said, a recognition of what hypocrites their behavior is showing them to be, eh?
Yahoo News:
[snip]But quoting an emperor under siege from Muslim armies suggests Benedict thinks Islam has not changed from the days when it was a military threat to Europe, Kerim Balci said
"This suggests that nations don’t change," said Balci, editor of the Aksiyon news weekly published by an influential movement led by Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen
[snip]
Balci also criticised the Pope for saying the Prophet Mohammad opposed forced conversions when he was politically weak but changed his views when he took power in Mecca. "That is an Orientalist view of Islam," he said.
This always seem to be the way it goes…one set of words to the faithful and another set to us infidels( look above, the Mujaheedin al-Shura Council in Iraq:
"…then the only thing acceptable is conversion or the sword"
So which are we to believe? And they wonder why we in the West don’t trust or believe them?
"If the pope comes here we will hang him on the Cross," Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, a senior leader of Pakistan’s main alliance of radical parties, told around 200 noisy demonstrators in Islamabad.
Another day of peace and contemplation that day, I would assume.
Religion of Peace? Wishing love and kumbaya on all? Not so much…all we have to do is listen to their own words. All will be fine if we just accept what they want.
That’s called intolerance. It’s also called intimidation.
