Glass Houses and All That
Oh, for crying out loud…!
Islamic leaders are now angry about remarks made by Pope Benedict XVI. In particular they are upset that he quoted the words of 14th-century Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologus: “Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.” The Pope claims he was merely trying to point out that violence and faith in God are incompatible and was not asserting that Islam is inherently violent.
In response, some jackasses firebombed two churches on the West Bank and said it was in retaliation for what the Pope said. Yeah, that’ll show us that Islam isn’t inherently violent!
I don’t, by the way, believe Islam is inherently violent. But these outraged Muslim leaders would have a lot more moral authority if they denounced the acts of radical Islamic terrorists with the same vigor they display when reacting to even the tiniest criticism from a non-Islamic.
September 16th, 2006 at 5:29 pm
Getting pretty tired of “muslim fury”. It seems like a significant percentage of them erupt at just about any provocation and they completely miss the irony of responding to accusations that they are prone to violence by committing acts of violence.
It’s a sign of insecurity. The true Muslims don’t need to kill or threaten people to advance their cause. If Allah IS the one true God he can’t be happy at the sorry nature of so many of his followers.
September 16th, 2006 at 10:34 pm
Cliff May at the National review had a great suggestion. What if the Pope were to say:
“Some of our Muslims friends have taken offense at my remarks. We understand that and we are distressed by it.
“We would hope our Muslim friends also understand that there are Christians and Jews who also may believe they have cause for offense at a time when there are Muslims who routinely justify mass murder in the name of Islam.
“And the other day in Gaza, two journalists, both Christians, were forced to convert at gunpoint. If there was outrage over this in Muslim communities, word of it did not reach our ears.
“We would ask that violence and anger subside and that serious dialogue begin.
“We are therefore planning to invite several leading Muslim religious leaders to visit us here in the Vatican where we can have detailed and inter-faith discussions”
“After that, we would like Muslim religious leaders to invite us to continue the conversation in their holy places: Mecca, Medina, Qum and Najaf for example. Our Jewish brothers should be invited to attend, too. And why not add in people of faith from the Buddhist and Hindu communities?
“This would, we believe, be both productive and historic.”