Posted on 09/15/2006 7:40:18 AM PDT by Froufrou
Religious scholars and clerics across the Middle East are raging about Pope Benedict XVI's comments on Islam, which he made during a speech in Germany this week. Some are demanding that the pope apologize to the world's Muslims.
This is the latest of a series of rows over non-Muslims' views on Islam, although previous arguments have involved less prominent individuals than the head of the Roman Catholic Church, whom Catholics see as the direct spiritual descendant of the Apostle Peter - and whom some regard as God's representative on earth.
From the Egyptian Brotherhood in Egypt to Islamist clerics in the Gulf, from shari'a judges in Lebanon to top religious figures in Turkey, senior Muslims have criticized the pope's speech at the University of Regensburg in Bavaria on Tuesday.
Some have called on Muslim governments to sever ties with the Holy See and to expel Vatican representatives from their countries. A scheduled papal tour to Turkey in November also is drawing flak.
It's not clear whether critics who have slammed the pope have read the full transcript of his 3,700-word address, but what they have seen or heard is enough.
Specifically, Pope Benedict cited a 14th century discussion on Islam and Christianity between a learned Persian and the Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaeologus.
He quoted the emperor as saying to the Persian, "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 told his academic audience that Emperor Manuel II had then explained why spreading faith through violence was unreasonable, that "violence is incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul."
He also quoted the emperor as saying, "Whoever would lead someone to faith needs the ability to speak well and to reason properly, without violence and threats ... To convince a reasonable soul, one does not need a strong arm, or weapons of any kind, or any other means of threatening a person with death ..."
In his scholarly discourse, the pope said Manuel II had argued that it was "unreasonable" to spread faith through violence.
Benedict spoke at some length about God being "reasonable." Quoting the verse from John's gospel in which John writes "In the beginning was the Word," he noted that the Greek word for "Word" - logos - also means "reason."
"John thus spoke the final word on the biblical concept of God," the pope said.
He concluded by saying that Christians invited "our partners in the dialogue of cultures" to reason.
The translation of the full text of the speech, as prepared for delivery, has been made available by the Vatican.
A Vatican spokesman said Thursday the pope wanted to "cultivate an attitude of respect and dialogue toward other religions and cultures - obviously toward Islam too"
"What is at the pope's heart is a clear and radical refusal of the religious motivation of violence," said spokesman Federico Lombardi.
Among those condemning the pope's words about violence and Islam were the head of the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist organization based in numerous Arab countries which gave birth to the Hamas terrorist group in the Palestinian territories.
The pope also was criticized by Yusuf al-Qaradawi, an Egyptian-born scholar based in Qatar and regarded as the spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood. Qaradawi has come under fire for praising Palestinian suicide bombers and for calling on Muslims to fight against U.S. forces in Iraq.
Qaradawi was quoted as telling al-Jazeera television that the pope should "apologize to the Muslim nation for insulting its religion, its prophet and its beliefs."
It's not like he let the cat out of the bag, guys.
Those are Swiss Guards.
Nowhere in the Bible does it give approval to sin. Such behaviour in the Bible aclls for death as a punishment.
However Islam, the Koran absolutely condones and recommends such evil beviour;
3:151-152 “We shall certainly strike terror into the hearts of those who have disbelieved. .. and certainly Allah had made good his promise to you when you were slaying them to pieces by his permission.” -- Koran
The Pope and the Catholic church do not lead Christianity, they are not the representives for all Christianity. They are a cultish organization that claims for themselves divine authority over men. Nowhere in the Bible does it grant men such authority.
No man tells me what to believe about Christ. Only the Bible, Christ and God have authority. No man stands between me and God.
But nonetheless we are all still sinners, but we try to live up to Biblical standards. (standards of peace)
Muslims who live up to Koran standards, and follow Mohamed become murderers.
IF YOU DON'T SAY YOUR SORRY I'LL KILL YOU, AND PEACE BE WITH YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Petroleum engineer here. Been to LOTS of Arab countries (learned quick to hide that I was a Jew, but that is another issue).
Oil-country arabs remind me of veal cattle.
They don't move or work much. They are very fat --- well, not so much "fat" as just no muscle whatsoever. And their skin is really soft and thin from lack of labor or effort.
Basically, heart-attacks and Type II Diabetes waiting to happen.
A really good business there would be being a heart surgeon.
"Right after the Catholic priest do and stop molestiong boys.
Sadly the church is more afraid of men then of God and the church seems to have lost its way.
I know this will get me flamed by a few of you but they will not respect us until we are respectable and get rid of the current leadership hiding these men."
Congrats! You win the second place prize for stupid post of the day. First has already been awarded.
Yes, the Swiss Guards descend from the Templars who fled and founded Switzerland.
Statutes all over Switzerland about how the KT drove out the French. (As if the white flag with the red cross wasn't a tipoff. Not to mention secret banks.)
"He [Pope] concluded by saying that Christians invited "our partners in the dialogue of cultures" to reason."
Translation: BRING IT ON!
Thank you. You may note I already posted you'd come out of the woodwork - attacking
remind you of the thread of the story...
Just the first thing from Google.
http://www.templarhistory.com/switzerland.html
Hmmm, thanks for the history..."something new ever' day" as I learned how to say it in God's country... (Texas)
Hmmm, thanks for the history..."something new ever' day" as I learned how to say it in God's country... (Texas)
Thank goodness the Catholics protected the Bible so that you have one to read.
And you don't think obl, imams, etc, has had a few boys for themselves?
I am sending a support email that he will probably never see, but someone will: benedictxvi@vatican.va
Technically, it was the Scotish/Irish monks in the Isles who preserved the Bible as we know it today.
So you really have to thank the Anglicans.
(They were Roman Catholics at the time, at least in name, so you're 100% right, too.)
(No more Olmert! No more Kadima! No more Oslo! )
There's a great book "How the Scots saved the world" (or somesuch) that recounts this, among others.
It's just the easy one to read.
The Pope asked nothing out of place. See Stocktraders post#39.
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