Posted on 03/24/2008 10:16:51 AM PDT by NYer
ITALIAN editor and critic of Islamic extremism Magdi Allam, who converted to Catholicism from Islam and was baptised by Pope Benedict XVI, today branded his former faith as intrinsically violent.
"I had to do this (abandon Islam)", Allam wrote in a long letter to the Italian daily Corriere della Sera.
"Beyond ... the phenomenon of extremists and Islamist terrorism at the global level, the root of evil is inherent to a physiologically violent and historically conflictual Islam," wrote the Egyptian-born journalist, who says he has received death threats and is under police protection.
One of seven adults baptised during an Easter vigil yesterday evening, Allam, 55, is an editorial writer and deputy editor at Corriere.
Regarding a combative tone that has made him famous in Italy, Allam wrote: "Over the years my spirit has been freed from the obscurantism of an ideology that legitimises lies and deception, violent death that leads to homicide and suicide, blind submission to tyranny."
He described Catholicism as "an authentic religion of Truth, Life and Freedom".
By baptising Allam in the public ceremony, the Pope "sent an explicit and revolutionary message to a church that until now has been too cautious in the conversion of Muslims ... because of the fear of being unable to protect the converted who are condemned to death for apostasy," Allam said.
"Thousands of people in Italy have converted to Islam and practise their faith serenely," he wrote.
"But there are also thousands of Muslims who have converted to Christianity who are forced to hide their new faith out of fear of being killed by Islamist terrorists."
Allam adopted the Christian name of Cristiano (Christian), not a common name in Italy.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.com.au ...
The death cult is mad that anyone would say that it is violent. It wants to kill him for saying that it is violent.
” . . . Holy Bible and thank the Catholic Church as you praide God and His Holy Word. The Catholic Church gave you the Bible and it is the biggest sermon that has ever been given.”
You wouldn’t say that the RCC gave the world Genesis through 2 Chronicles (order in the Hebew OT). I just know you wouldn’t That was provided, humanly speaking, by the Nation of Israel.
You’ve spent too much time in the mountains.
It’s a new game. The Pope is saying that he won’t back up, unlike most of Europe. The convert is a very high profile journalist in Italy and it probably is a much bigger story in Europe than here.
Horsefeathers.
“Well the RCC did produce something they call a Bible”
You are a preacher? It scares me that you don’t know that that “something that Catholics call a Bible” indeed was the original cannon accepted and translated that all Bibles are based on. Of course, the KingJames version is based on that which was purposefully mistranslated to support the Reformation.
Just by way of background, the Douay-Rheims was translated from the Latin Vulgate which was prepared by St. Jerome in the fourth century. Jerome was commissioned by pope Damasus to translate Sacred Scripture into Latin using many of the original Greek and Hebrew manuscripts. So the Latin Vulgate is the best translation that we have, and the Douay-Rheims put the Latin Vulgate translation into English (the New Testament was issued in 1582, and the Old Testament in 1609, before the KJV came along).
“I’m a former Protestant, who was always warned not to read certain passages of the Bible.”
I don’t know about “Protestants” ‘cause I’ve never been one. Nobody has ever instructed me not to read any passage in the Bible. Every church I’ve ever fellowshipped with makes cover-to-cover Bible reading and personal in-depth Scripture study a very high priority for the common folks. Virtually the entire membership of one such church reads the whole Bible in eight weeks every year. That’s 20 chapters a day. They do it as a congregation, encouraging each other to be avid Bible readers. The churches we attend are congregations where each believer carries his own Bible to church and looks at it when the preacher is preaching, and will question what he said, if need be, according to the Bible.
Of course, you are duty bound to state that any Bible (KJV or otherwise), that doesn’t have the approval of the Vatican, “made changes,” etc. etc., because you really believe that the RCC is the only authorized source for the Bible—any manuscript evidence to the contrary notwithstanding. Hills, Wilkinson, Schrivener, Vance and Gipp would mean absolutely nothing to you as scholars on the subject (although they are genuine), simply because they are not Roman Catholics. Nothing would mean anything to you if it didn’t come directly from a RCC-approved source.
I would think that as a preacher for a Biblically centered denomination, that you would want a Bible that would be as close to Christ as possible.
It is clear, factual and objective that it is the original translations from St Jerome that are indeed that. Why would anybody want a Bible that was possibly altered from the original Word of God?
Don’t trust me, a person who has sought truth in non Catholic as well as Catholic faith. Pray and do the research on the translations of the Bible. However, it is more important to have the Catholic Church to demonize, that is up to you. Hate or Truth and Love - your choice.
Conversely, this same group of people I've discovered, would cheer any group including Muslims, which inflicts damage on the Catholic Church.
Ergo, they see Catholicism and not Islam as their #1 enemy.
I pray the day does not come when they find the truth to be otherwise, just before an Islamic scimitar descends on their prone neck and separates their head from their shoulders. "Convert or die" is not a nice way to find that comparisons between Islam and Catholicism are completely vacuous.
This baptism is hugely symbolic and is right up there with the Pope's Regensburg address. It shows the true way forward against Islam is with the Gospel of Jesus and it demonstrates enormous courage, coming as it does only days after bin Laden threatened the Vatican. Only the Pope has the gravitas and standing to take this battle to the Moslems.
On the one hand we have bin Laden hissing "we kill you all......". On the other hand we have the Pope calmly baptizing a Moslem who has made a private, personal decision to convert. These two images are a powerful contrast and they focus the light very sharply on Islam's violent undercurrent.
And its violent overcurrent, too. Great summary!
Bored today?
Who has the yopios graphic? This started out as a great thread about a muslim who converted to Christianity. Roman Catholic Christianity. He converted publicly and at great risk to himself. And then the usual...
Factually incorrect on both counts.
The Church has always shown, and still shows, reverence for angels. The Feast Day of the Archangels Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael is still celebrated on September 29, and the Feast of the Guardian Angels on October 2.
At every single Mass, every single day, at the conclusion of the Preface, we summon the saints and angels to join us in prayer. More accurately, we pray to link to heaven, by a kind of simulcast transmission, in uniting our voices with heaven in the worship of God: as we say, “heaven and earth are filled with your glory.” A typical conclusion of the Preface is as follows: “And therefore with the Angels and Archangels, with the Thrones and Dominations, and with all the choirs of the heavenly host, we sing a hymn to your glory, saying without end... Holy, holy, holy” (etc. the Sanctus.)
Every Catholic funeral Mass concludes:
"May the angels lead you into paradise;
may the martyrs come to welcome you
and take you to the holy city,
the new and eternal Jerusalem."
(Rite for Christian Burial)
The Catechism of the Catholic Church has a wonderful section on angels.
We had Mass readings today, Easter Monday, as well as yesterday of course (Easter) with many references to aangles, and all of the Easter hymns exultantly rejoice with the angels.
The person who told you that the Church has "done away with reverence for angels" is somebody who apparently knows virtually nothing about Catholicism.
The charge that Catholics "worship the Divine Mother" is incorrect, as has been discussed dozens of times here on Free Frepublic threads. Suffice it to say that Catholics are taught to worship God alone, and here's the teaching from the Catechism in wonderful context, well worth your thoughtful reading.
I thank all who have an honest interest in an accurate account of the doctrine.
Just about anything before 1970.
You obviously belong to one of the few conservative catholic parishes. I have been to mass in Chicago, Milwaukee, Seattle, Montana and Florida. No reference or prayers to angels or Mother Mary during mass.
Really? You haven’t been to Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston or San Antonio.
I am at a loss to understand your statement. The whole point of the Preface is to ask God to permit us at this moment to join our voices with the angels and archangels who are offering their prayer and adoration rejoicing in his presence forever in their unending hymn of praise: Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might.
A "mass" without the Preface and Sanctus is not a Mass. I, too, have attended Mass all over the country, and in England, Ireland, Germany and Italy as well, and the Preface has never been omitted. I have even had the misfortune of attending "masses" run under the auspices of dingbat nuns who were in fact feminist apostates, and even their hireling capon priest had a Preface and Sanctus invoking the angels.
The "Ordinary" (unchanging parts) of the Mass itself makes only one brief mention of Mary, in the Confiteor, which reads in its entirety:
"I confess to almighty God,
and to you my brothers and sisters
that I have sinned through my own fault
in what I have done and what I have failed to do
and I ask the blessed Mary ever virgin
all the angels and saints,
and you my brothers and sisters
to pray for me to the Lord our God."
This has nothing to do with "adoring Mary." Read it. It's asking Mary, together with all other members of the Church, to intercede for us to God, Whom alone we adore.
Aquinasfan, I'm pinging you for your insight here. Have you ever been to a Mass which omitted mention of angels from the Preface? It sounds bizarre-o to me.
I always notice the angels part in the Spanish Mass, because it cues us to get ready for the “Santo.” My husband and son, not understanding any Spanish, need a nudge :-).
The article states he adopted the Christian name of Cristiano but I don't know of a saint my that name.
It would be interesting to know who he chose.
Take another toke, head for the local Dairy Queen, and contemplate the meaning of your life.
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