You know, that didn't sound quite like the apology I was hoping for...."
Posted on 09/19/2006 7:22:26 AM PDT by NYer
Pope Benedict faced a growing chorus of demands on Tuesday for an unequivocal apology for remarks seen as portraying Islam as a violent faith, despite attempts by Western leaders and churchmen to defuse the crisis.
Even President Bush got involved, saying on Monday the Pope had been "sincere" when he said sorry to Muslims and that his words had been misunderstood.
But for many Muslims, the Pope's attempt to explain himself on Sunday did not go far enough and observers were waiting to see if he would speak about it again at his general audience at the Vatican on Wednesday.
The Pope enraged Muslims in a speech a week ago in Germany quoting 14th century Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaeologus, who said everything the Prophet Mohammad brought was evil "such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached."
The leader of the world's 1.1 billion Roman Catholics said on Sunday he was "deeply sorry" for the reaction caused -- but stopped short of apologizing for his words or retracting them.
In a telegram to the order of an Italian nun killed in Somalia who may be the crisis' first victim, the Pope hoped her sacrifice would help build "real fraternity among people with reciprocal respect of everyone's religious convictions."
But the deluge of criticism and threats continued. Italian media said an al Qaeda group in Egypt called for the German-born Pope, who is 79, to be punished by strict Islamic sharia law for insulting their religion. An al Qaeda umbrella group in Iraq has also vowed war on "worshippers of the cross."
Workers at Turkey's Directorate General for Religious Affairs, or Diyanet, petitioned for the arrest of the Pontiff when he makes a scheduled visit to Turkey in November.
They held banners saying "Either apologize or don't come."
The Pope's comments annoyed the Turkish government but there are no plans yet to cancel the trip.
In Iraq, where an effigy of the Pope was burned on Monday, parliament speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani called his apology "inadequate and not commensurate with the moral damage caused to Muslims' feelings."
The Grand Mufti of the Palestinian Territories, Sheikh Mohammad Hussein, said the Pope must make "a personal and clear apology to 1.5 billion Muslims in this world for the insult caused by his lecture..."
But the cleric asked for an end to attacks on churches in the area, after seven were vandalized this weekend.
WORDS TWISTED?
The president of mostly Catholic Slovenia, Janez Drnovsek, said on his Web site that Muslims were justifiably upset and that the pope should be big enough to learn from his error.
In Italy, politicians and churchmen defended the Pope and said his words were taken out of context and his explanation was quite clear. Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano published it in Arabic on its front page to try to clarify his meaning.
But while some Muslim clerics say the alleged insults are the latest skirmish in a new Western "crusade" against Islam, some Catholic churchmen say the Pontiff's words have been purposefully twisted by militant Muslims.
"We pray for the Pope whose words have been maliciously interpreted," Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe said in Naples at the annual "miracle" of fourth century Saint Gennaro, whose blood turns from powder to liquid in what is seen as a good omen.
The head of Australia's 5.1 million-strong Catholic church went as far as to say that violent reaction "justified one of Pope Benedict's main fears" about Islam.
Cardinal George Pell said this showed "the link for many Islamists between religion and violence, their refusal to respond to criticism with rational arguments, but only with demonstrations, threats and actual violence."
Local Muslims called Pell's comments "unhelpful."
You know, that didn't sound quite like the apology I was hoping for...."
Even if they had been inflammatory, Islam has proven him right.
Last week Rosie O'Donnell said that Radical Christianity was more dangerous than Radical Islam. Was that not an inflammatory statement? Yet what have Christians done to Rosie to protest her statement? Make negative comments here on FR? Protest anybody anywhere? Certainly no vandalism. Certainly no murders.
If you are so easily inflamed you ARE violent. No apology necessary for saying so.
Shalom.
Wow, what an article from the Yahoo Dhimmi news.
Reminds me of an old Buggs Bunny snippet.
Sam: Say yer sorry, varmint.
Buggs: OK. You're sorry. In fact, you're about the sorriest person I ever met.
Shalom.
So what happened to his empire?
And every violent protest held by these "peaceful" Islamics simply proves the Pope's point again and again.
d. destroyed by muslim male aged 18-40
Memo to "offended" Muzzies: Piss off, untermensch.
Manuel II Palaeologus was the second to last Byzantine Emperor. He actually was forced to act as a vassal to the Muslims. His entire life was one of intrigue and under the table dealings. Few had more insight into the Islamic psyche than he did. His 'Empire' was largly confined to Constantinople and a few coastal cities on the Black Sea. The assault on Asia Minor by Tamerlane for a time relieved the situation for Manuel but even then the tribute that was formerly paid to the Ottomans by the Byzantines was demanded by Tamerlane.
"F@ck 'em if they can't take a joke"
Eff them and the camel they rode in on!!!!
Why is he wearing a lampshade on his head???
I'm not gonna apologize! How do you say 'up yours' in Latin?
I might get banned for this, but the Muslims who complain should up theirs!!
At least now a lot of people are waking up to exactly how crazy these Muslim fanatics are. In other words, Muslims can say whatever they want about Christians and Jews and lop off their heads but if we say anything about their cult they can kill us. Wake up world!!!!! They have declared war on everyone who is not a Muslim.
Up yours = (L.)Ascendo tuum
Members of the "chorus" making the demands: Associated Press, Reuters, BBC, NY Times, CNN, etc. etc....
I think it is high time for us as FReepers to take the lead, since only a small minority of our leaders in the Western nations are willing to speak bluntly and unequivocally to the muhammadan pig-porking terror-merchants.
They took such significant umbrage at a handful of cartoons by some mellow-but-mischievous Danes, and a quote from the dusty annals of history (one which now ought to be cast in bronze and placed prominently opposite every mosque in evety western nation where the paedophile prophet's followers proselytize the unknowing) but they haven't seen ANYTHING YET!
I'm sick and tired of their baseless outrage. They want to be outraged? FINE! I am outraged by their:
beheading innocent 13 year old Christian schoolgirls in Indonesia...
Firebombing churches in the Gaza strip and elsewhere around the world...
Killing a 66 year old Italian nun {working in a Somali hospital with the destitute} with three bullets in the back...
Threatening to assassinate Pope Benedict XVI, tear down crosses, and slay followers of Christ's cross...
It is time for us "civilians" to take on the mantle of provoking and drawing out these malcontents into the open.
Herewith, I am announcing the beginning of:
the FIRST, OPEN to ALL Comers - {Especially FReepers and LGF folk}
"MOCK THE FALSE PROPHET" CARTOON, CARICATURE, & SATIRE INVITATIONAL
[unofficial and unsponsored, of course!]
____________________________________________________________
THE "RULES"
1) Submissions must be in the form of two categories:
a) a single panel or multipanel cartoon or caricature, either captioned or uncaptioned, either with or without speech or thought "bubbles", or:
b) a satirical: Limerick, brief rhyme, poem, allegory, or short story.
2) The overriding objective of the submissions in either category is to ruthlessly and with full premeditation and malice aforethought:
mock, deride, ridicule, denigrate, insult, humiliate, emasculate and impugn the false prophet mohammad, his false "god", alla-uzza, the peaceful pretensions, sexual perversities, and other rank hypocrisies of the worldwide death-cult known as islam, its leaders and adherents.
No holds are barred, no pigs are sacred, no surah or hadith beneath contempt, no imam, mullah, general, or president beyond reproach. The kor'an is not holy {how can low-grade toilet paper be 'holy'}, nor the black rock in mecca...
Every name can be plagiarized, twisted, reshaped and deeply shamed
[For example: Iranian Prozac poster-boy, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad becomes:
"Mad-mood Ah'm-a dim jack-off" or, "Mock-mood Ah'm a damn nutjob"...]
3) In posting, Please observe F.R. rules regarding profanity, specific threats of personal violence, and "flaming" of fellow FReepers.
{moderators & JimRob - does that work for you?}
The islamonazis, not LGF lizards or fellow FReepers, are the intended objects of scorn and fury.
There is no "prize" currently - the reward is simply striking a blow for sanity against the notoriously insane and irrational "Phony Religion of Peace" in the Final Crusade, and basking in the glow of renown amongst your fellow bloggers, Freepers, LGF lizards and other associated agents of Western-style conservatism.
Hopefully we'll provoke the attention of the SlimeStreamMedia, Al Jizz-era, al Qaeda, the Taliban, the Taliban West (aka the DNC), al Qaeda West (aka D.U.), FOX, SkyNews, maybe earn ourselves a bevy of Fatwas, and some outraged moose-slime protest marches.
So I am "letting the dogs out" and pinging my full "P.R.O.P." pinglist...those on the list who maintain their own sizeable pinglists - please join in the fun and games.
After all, we'll need to start a thread of our own to post the entries to {that part shouldn't be difficult}, and create some sort of a link whereby everyone can vote for their personal favorites {this part requires a tech wizard - so who's going to volunteer?}
I really wanna see some very wickedly funny, downright vicious satire, so all you talented and gifted free thinkers out there - put your thinking caps on and start creating!
Let the Satire Offensive {and I mean REALLY OFFENSIVE!} BEGIN!
AmericanAchConservative
"The Final Crusade has commenced - Satire, satire - my kingdom for a snippet of satire!"
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