Pope baptizes famous Muslim convert
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1990056/postsI, personally, think Pope Benedict has the right idea.
That whole FR thread, above, is worth reading.
Read also what he said at Regensburg (January 2006), asking whether Islam was closed-off to reason and thus prone to violence. I'm sure you remember that in the aftermath of the Regensburg lecture,
- At least five churches were firebombed by Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.
- Churches were set afire or sprayed with gunfire in Nablus
- Al-Qaeda and the Mujahideen Shura Council threatened in a joint statement: "you and the West are doomed... the only thing acceptable is a conversion (to Islam) or (being killed by) the sword. ... God enable us to slit their throats..."
- İsleri Baskanlısı (Presidency of Religious Affairs), the state body that organizes Muslim worship in Turkey, asked the authorities to arrest Pope Benedict XVI for "insulting" Islam and the Prophet Muhammad.
- Outside Westminster Cathedral, on 18 September2006, around a hundred protestors held banners which included calls for the Pope's execution, "Pope go to Hell" and "Jesus is the slave of Allah", "Islam will conquer Rome," and "May Allah curse the Pope."
- The Lashkar-e-Taiba in Pakistan has issued a fatwa asking the Muslim community to kill Pope Benedict for his "blasphemous statement" about Mohammad.
- Two Somali gunmen shot and killed a 65 year-old Italian nun, Sister Leonella Scogbati, working at the Austrian-run children's hospital in the city of Mogadishu. Sheikh Mukhtar Robow, member of the Islamic Courts Union, said the murder of the nun was "a reprisal for the Pope's remarks on Islam".In Iraq, Christian crosses and effigies of Pope Benedict were burned in Basra.
- A Baghdad-based group, Kataab Ashbal Al Islam Al Salafi (Islamic Salafist Boy Scout Battalions threatened to kill all Christians in Iraq if the Pope does not apologize to Muhammad within three days. Christian Leaders in Iraq asked their parishioners not to leave their homes, after two Christians were stabbed and killed in Baghdad
- The Iraqi militia Jaish al-Mujahedin (Holy Warriors' Army) announced its intention to "destroy their cross in the heart of Rome
and to hit the Vatican."
- Islamists kidnapped priest Paulos Iskander and demanded his church condemn the pope's recent comments about Islam and pay a $350,000 ransom. Three days later, in Mosul, he was beheaded.
So, Lurker, you don't "take the Pope seriously"?
Some people do.