Posted on 09/18/2006 8:23:58 AM PDT by Borges
Al Qaeda militants in Iraq vowed war on "worshippers of the cross" and protesters burned a papal effigy on Monday over Pope Benedict's comments on Islam, while Western churchmen and statesmen tried to calm passions.
The statement by an umbrella group led by Iraq's branch of al Qaeda came after the Pontiff said on Sunday he was deeply sorry Muslims had been offended by his use of a medieval quotation on Islam and holy war.
"We tell the worshipper of the cross (the Pope) that you and the West will be defeated, as is the case in Iraq, Afghanistan, Chechnya," said a Web statement by the Mujahideen Shura Council.
"We shall break the cross and spill the wine ... God will (help) Muslims to conquer Rome ... (May) God enable us to slit their throats, and make their money and descendants the bounty of the mujahideen," said the statement, posted on Sunday on an Internet site often used by al Qaeda and other militant groups.
In Iraq's southern city of Basra, up to 150 demonstrators chanted slogans and burned a white effigy of the Pope.
"No to aggression!," "We gagged the Pope!," they chanted in front of the governor's office in the Shi'ite city. The protesters also burned German, U.S., and Israeli flags.
A speech by Pope Benedict last Tuesday was seen as portraying Islam as a religion tainted by violence, causing dismay among Muslim states where some religious leaders called it the start of a new Christian crusade against Islam.
The Vatican has instructed its envoys in Muslim countries to explain Pope Benedict's words on Islam.
Benedict's new Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, said the Holy See's nuncios (ambassadors) in Muslim countries would be visiting government and religious leaders.
French President Jacques Chirac refused on Monday to criticize the 79-year-old Pontiff, but called for a more diplomatic use of language.
"It is not my role or my intention to comment on the Pope's statements. I simply want to say, on a general level ... that we must avoid anything that excites tensions between peoples or between religions," Chirac said on Europe 1 radio.
"We must avoid making any link between Islam, which is a great, respected and respectable religion, and radical Islamism, which is a totally different activity and one of a political nature," Chirac added.
ARCHBISHOP DEFENDS POPE
The head of the world's Anglican church, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, defended Benedict.
"The Pope has already issued an apology and I think his views on this need to be judged against his entire record, where he has spoken very positively about dialogue," said Williams, the spiritual leader of 77 million Anglicans worldwide.
Williams told the BBC that all faiths could be distorted, and the Pope was simply giving an example of that.
"There are elements in Islam that can be used to justify violence, just as there are in Christianity and Judaism."
In Iran, a government spokesman said on Monday Pope Benedict's regret was a "good gesture" but not enough.
The Pope had referred to criticism of the Prophet Mohammad by 14th century Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaeologus, who said everything the Prophet brought was evil "such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached."
Questions had been raised on whether a papal visit to Turkey in November could go ahead, but the government, while calling his remarks "ugly," said there were no plans to call it off.
The Pope, head of the world's 1.1 billion Roman Catholics, said the quotation did not represent his personal views, but failed to satisfy some Islamic groups seeking a full apology.
In Somalia, an Italian nun was killed on Sunday in an attack one Islamist source said could be linked to the dispute. A Vatican spokesman hoped the killing was "an isolated event."
A senior Chinese Muslim expressed anger over the Pope's comments, Xinhua news agency said on Monday. This was in contrast to Chinese reticence over last year's publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad in a Danish paper that sparked violent Muslim protests elsewhere in the world.
"In his speech, Benedict insulted both Islam and the Prophet Mohammad. This has gravely hurt the feelings of the Muslims across the world, including those from China," Xinhua quoted Chen Guangyuan, president of the Islamic Association of China, as saying.
China insists its Catholics belong to a state-backed church that does not recognize the Pope's authority. Muslims are also under state control.
About 100 Indonesian Muslims protested peacefully over the Pope's remarks outside the Vatican embassy in Jakarta on Monday.
Agree with all else you had to say except with this here. While it is certainly their free will choice to be an atheist or agnostic, and I am thinking an atheist more than likely from what has been posted...I most definitely have a problem with agnosticism and atheism.
According to the Catholic Catechism, "atheism is a sin against the virtue of religion."
Atheists in this country have done a lot of harm to religion. Madalyn Murray O'Hare taking prayer out of schools, the atheists at ACLU, etc.
Agnosticism is not much better. According to the Catechism "Agnosticism is all too often equivalent to practical atheism." I agree with that statement 100%.
"We shall break the cross and spill the wine ... God will (help) Muslims to conquer Rome ... (May) God enable us to slit their throats, and make their money and descendants the bounty of the mujahideen,"
This is the best reason for beating the snot out of every Muslim country that attempts to attack us. They need to see that everything they believe about the moon god they fight for has been a total fraud, and that piece of rock in Mecca is just a rock. There will be no taking of our land and our money and enslaving our children. They will be herding goats and camels with three eyes (think the fish at the power plant on the Simpsons) over radio-active desert for the next two hundred years.
Some enemies aren't worth loving.
Either you aren't really Catholic, or you need to learn a little more about your faith.
I think Oh Brother was referring to your use of Islam as a person or single entity. Islam hasn't done anything because it is a religion, not a person. There are some followers of Islam who have done things, but you cannot attribute an action to a religion.
I am not sure what Oh Brother meant, and I can't speak for him, but that is my understanding of his question.
The Vatican has instructed its envoys in Muslim countries to explain Pope Benedict's words on Islam.
Benedict's new Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, said the Holy See's nuncios (ambassadors) in Muslim countries would be visiting government and religious leaders.
&&&
A better plan would be to get them the heck out of the Mohammedan countries. I fear for all Christians and Jews in such places.
Pope Julius II was known as the "Warrior Pope". Maybe Pope Benedict will be the next one.
&&
I hope so. A FReeper who call himself LiberalBassTurds said on another thread:
If they hated Crusades v.1 they will really detest v.2.
Someone had to have the courage to remind the cult of islamofascists from whence they came. Islam began as a cult. At it's onset it's only members were mo/muhammed, his wives and children. Mo/muhammed was not a learned man and could not read nor write. Still, eventually others began to follow is cult and became members. ( I am reminded of David Korish and that Haley's Comet group.) Regardless, he did learn how to form gangs to kill his enemies as he learned to rule by the sword.
I salute Pope Benedict for having the courage to remind folks from whence islam came. Shame on all the other civilized world leaders for not having the courage to do the same.
Islam is not a religion of peace. Islam is cult of gang mentality perpetrating murder and chaos around the globe.
And has been doing the same since it's onset.
call = calls
I think Oh Brother was referring to your use of Islam as a person or single entity. Islam hasn't done anything because it is a religion, not a person. There are some followers of Islam who have done things, but you cannot attribute an action to a religion.
I am not sure what Oh Brother meant, and I can't speak for him, but that is my understanding of his question.
Ok, thank you. But................
See post #72:
Islam is not a religion, it is a death cult.
That pretty much says it all.
Kind of explains their seventh century life styles as well. No time for developing science, commerce, or medical innovation when your day is basically spent wailing in the street. For 13 centuries...
Mohammad was a demon possessed pedophile. No more, no less.
ping
Great link!
Whew!
They might have been really one person pretending to be two. People who spend their lives hating God who they say doesn't exist lead miserable, lonely lives, and at death they will be insane with terror.
Very sad.
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