Arab Op-ed: Pope’s Remarks May Lead to War(The sooner, the better)

ynetnews.com ^ | 9/16/2006 | Roee Nahmias

[kellynla]

The recent remarks made by Pope Benedict XVI on Islam are threatening to ignite the entire Muslim world.

Op-Eds published in the Arab newspapers slammed the pope even after the Vatican’s apology.

The most extreme opinion was voiced by Hani Pahas in the London-based Arabic-language daily newspaper Al-Hayat, who wrote “the pope’s comments may lead to war; we fear that the pope’s statements may lead to a war that we, Muslims and Christians alike, are trying to prevent through dialogue between East and West.

Hussein Shabakshy wrote in an article published by the London-based Arabic-language newspaper al-Sharq al-Awsat “It is clear that such remarks only contribute to the fueling of the fire raging between Islam and the West. There is no difference between Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri speaking from their caves in Tora Bora and the stage of an important Christian saint. Both parties contribute to the world verbal weapons for mass destruction.”

“The pope’s latest statement cannot be considered a slip of the tongue or a comic bit from a TV show; the situatio0n here is different, and his remarks are indicative of an important and highly symbolic stance toward the religion (Islam) and the prophet of about a billion and-a-half Muslims,” he said.

“These are ignorant comments previously made by Adolf Hitler, who spoke of a supreme white race against all the other races, especially the African race.

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood said a Vatican statement on Saturday saying Pope Benedict was sorry for upsetting Muslims with his comments on Islam did not go far enough.

"We want a personal apology (from the Pope). We feel that he has committed a grave error against us and that this mistake will only be removed through a personal apology," Muslim Brotherhood Deputy Leader Mohammed Habib told Reuters.

[FarRockaway]

Eventually the fact that terrorist-Islamists cannot and do not reason, can only persuade to their position by coercive violence, and cannot successfully produce an ordered civilization, will win over people to oppose them. To allow them to continue on to victory means the end of civilisation, means widespread genocide, means the end of order and prosperity. But the very reason they are so passionately violent is because they are aware, at some level, that they cannot compete. They have nothing to offer. When you point it out, they rage more. In the end the huge majorities of people in the world will see this and abandon any support for them. But this fact and the linkage between reason (or lack) and persuasion (or lack) has to be told far and wide in order for people to get it. "Convert or die" produces the most sluggardly of all converts - someone who doesn't really wish to be there but hides and fears his way through a minimalist life. But "convert because the truth is so compelling based on A, B, and C" produces a fruitful convert, someone amazed and invested in the system, someone who has power to construct civilisation. So, the collection of people under "convert or die" may be more numerous, but they will not be happy nor effective. The people under "convert because the reasons are excellent" will beat the "convert or die" crowd if they have good borders and can outwait them.