Posted on 09/16/2006 3:56:54 AM PDT by governsleastgovernsbest
by Mark Finkelstein
September 16, 2006 - 06:46
In a surreal clash of the sacred and the profane, the New York Times - that citadel of secularism - has declared in its editorial of this morning that Pope Benedict "needs to offer a deep and persuasive apology," for having quoted a 14th century Christian emperor who said:
Show me just what Muhammad 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 Times is only being fair and balanced, I suppose. After all, hardly a week goes by that you can't pick up the paper and read an editorial condemning this or that mullah, imam or ayatollah for the latest fatwa ordering the death of such-and-such infidel or the destruction of entire countries found to be an annoyance. Or not.
But the Times suddenly gets religion, if they'll excuse the expresssion, when it comes to the Pope. Oh well. At least there's one hopeful sign in all this. It was of course Stalin who dismissively asked how many divisions the Pope had. By its editorial according great weight to the words of the Pontiff, the Times would appear to be breaking with Uncle Joe. Might this be the start of a hopeful trend?
You are talking about the "leadership" of Iran...not it's Muslim population.
OBL attacked America first for a reason. It is because Americans give Muslim populations hope for freedom and moderation. Europeans have only wanted to "dominate" and "rule" the ME "savages" and "barbarians".
;-) No you aren't! You are an individual and that's the reason that our Founding Fathers fought for liberty. The fundamental difference that we have here in the US is that we value the individual, though the left would have us submit to the collective. Any collective, it seems.
nyt is the FIRST MAJOR muzzie newspaper in America. Who would have thought that they could have gotten the staff of the newspaper to ALL convert to islam. Mark al-Finklestein?
LLS
BTW if you are in a different time zone than eastern DON"T watch Fox and FRiends today, Jessie Jackson was offering the Holy Father advice.
Agree.
Yeah, right after Muslims apologize for killing and terrorizing people in the name of Allah or Mohammad.
The Islam problem has been around since Abraham and is not going to go away!
I think the Pope's argument was about Islam. This does not say that there aren't Muslims who want freedom-- that in itself is at the very heart of the battle. Because the existence of freedom undermines the house of Islam, which translated means submission.
There are two houses- the house of Islam and the house of war. The theory goes that it's possible to be a non muslim and belong to the house of Islam, but one must submit or else belong to the house of war. I would like to ask where it's possible for one who is Jewish to be a citizen in the ME. Although Israel accepts Muslims as citizens.
I am sorry. You know more than I do.
I retract my remarks.
Just as I thought he would, Benedict XVI has said he is upset that Muslims are offended. That makes perfect sense. He doesn't have to apologize since he did nothing wrong, but I thought he would say something about how he is sorry Muslims are offended since that wasn't his intention.
http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/w-eur/2006/sep/16/091601541.html
Unless you're making an indirect reference to paganism, Islam has not been around since Abraham, but only for about 1400 years, when the Arab Mohammed hallucinated it. And it's been violent, savage, ignorant and disruptive for all 1400 of them.
Jesse is desperate for publicity. He has been awfull silent lately. I hope his star is fading.
That IS his religion.
LOL!
The New York Times should wish in one hand and crap in the other and see which fills fastest.
I think that, to some extent, European self-esteem is built on comparing themselves to 3rd world backwardness. Their museums are full of paintings from the romantic period that make Arabs seem exotic. They need women in headscarves and Bedouins on camels in deserts to feel superior. That's why they exploited these areas instead of developing them when they had colonies.
I'm not a Catholic, but over the past few days I've gained a whole lot of respect for his holiness.
Don't worry! If the coffers get low we will hear a ton out of JJ.
Why do the good have to die young, and the evil just linger on and on!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.