"We are a religion of peace!!! Now apologize or we will kill you in Allah's name!!!!!!
Posted on 09/16/2006 1:52:39 PM PDT by Kaslin
VATICAN CITY
Pope Benedict XVI "sincerely regrets" offending Muslims with his reference to an obscure medieval text that characterizes some of the teachings of Islam's founder as "evil and inhuman," the Vatican said Saturday.
But the statement stopped short of the apology demanded by Islamic leaders around the globe, and anger among Muslims remained intense. Palestinians attacked five churches in the West Bank and Gaza over the pope's remarks Tuesday in a speech to university professors in his native Germany.
In a broader talk rejecting any religious motivation for violence, Benedict cited the words of a Byzantine emperor who characterized some of the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad as "evil and inhuman," particularly "his command to spread by the sword the faith."
The pontiff didn't endorse that description, but he didn't question it, and his words set off a firestorm of protests across the Muslim world.
Bertone's statement, released Saturday by the Vatican press office, failed to satisfy critics, although British Muslim leaders said it was a welcome step.
Mohammed Bishr, a senior Muslim Brotherhood member in Egypt, said the statement "was not an apology" but a "pretext that the pope was quoting somebody else as saying so and so."
"We need the pope to admit the big mistake he has committed and then agree on apologizing, because we will not accept others to apologize on his behalf," Bishr said.
There was no indication whether the pope would do so. His first public appearance since his return from Germany was set for Sunday, when Benedict planned to greet the faithful at Castel Gandolfo, the papal summer residence in the Alban Hills near Rome.
Morocco recalled its ambassador to the Vatican on Saturday to protest the pope's "offensive" remarks, and Afghanistan's parliament and Foreign Ministry demanded the pope apologize.
Turkey cast some doubt on whether Benedict could proceed with a planned visit in November in what would be the pontiff's first trip to a Muslim nation.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan insisted the pope apologize to the Muslim world, saying he had spoken "not like a man of religion but like a usual politician."
Asked if Muslim anger would affect the pope's trip to Istanbul, where he hopes to meet with Orthodox leaders headquartered there, Erdogan replied, "I wouldn't know."
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, spiritual leader of the world's 200 million Orthodox Christians, issued a statement saying he was "deeply" saddened by the tensions sparked by the pope's comments.
"We have to show the determination and care not to hurt one another and avoid situations where we may hurt each others' beliefs," the Istanbul-based Patriarchate said.
The new Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, said the pope's position on Islam is unmistakably in line with Vatican teaching that says the church "esteems" Muslims.
Benedict "thus sincerely regrets that certain passages of his address could have sounded offensive to the sensitivities of the Muslim faithful and should have been interpreted in a manner that in no way corresponds to his intentions," Bertone said in a statement.
He noted that earlier during his German trip, Benedict warned "secularized Western culture" against holding contempt for any religion or believers.
Bertone said the pontiff sought in his university speech to condemn all religious motivation for violence, "from whatever side it may come." But the pope's words only seemed to fan rage.
In West Bank attacks on four churches, Palestinians used guns, firebombs and lighter fluid, leaving church doors charred and walls scorched by flames and pocked with bullet holes. Nobody was reported injured. Two Catholic churches, an Anglican one and a Greek Orthodox one were hit. A Greek Orthodox church was also attacked in Gaza City.
A group calling itself "Lions of Monotheism" told The Associated Press by phone that the attacks were a protest of the pope's remarks on Islam.
During his speech, Benedict stressed that he was quoting words of a Byzantine emperor and did not comment directly on the "evil and inhuman" assessment. On Saturday, Bertone said that "the Holy Father did not mean, nor does he mean, to make that opinion his own in any way."
Benedict quoted from a book recounting a conversation between 14th century Byzantine Christian Emperor Manuel Paleologos II and an educated Persian on the truths of Christianity and Islam.
"The emperor comes to speak about the issue of jihad, holy war," the pope said. "He said, I quote, 'Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.'"
The grand sheik of Cairo's Al-Azhar Mosque, the Sunni Arab world's most powerful institution, condemned the pope's remarks as "reflecting ignorance."
Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, whose Southeast Asian nation has a large Muslim population, demanded that Benedict retract his remarks and not "take lightly the spread of outrage that has been created."
In a first reaction from a top Christian leader, the head of Egypt's Coptic Orthodox Church criticized the pope. "Any remarks which offend Islam and Muslims are against the teachings of Christ," Coptic Pope Shenouda III was quoted as telling the pro-government newspaper Al- Ahram.
The Shiite Muslim militant group Hezbollah and Lebanon's top Sunni Muslim religious authority also denounced the pope's comments.
British Muslims sought to calm the situation, praising the Vatican statement on behalf of the pope.
"We welcome his apology and we hope now we can work together and build bridges. At the same time we would condemn all forms of violent demonstration," Muhammad Umar, chairman of Britain's Ramadhan Foundation, a youth organization, told Sky News.
But Muhammad Abdul Bari, general-secretary of the Muslim Council of Britain, said the pontiff needed to repudiate the emperor's views he quoted to restore relations between Muslims and the Roman Catholic Church.
In India, Cardinal Telesphore Toppo, who is president of the Indian Catholic Bishops Conference, said the Christian community in that country must face Muslim protests over the pope's speech "with Christian courage and prayer because truth needs no other defense," according to AsiaNews, a Vatican-affiliated news agency.
The Pope needs to make no apology whatsoever. The Koran is evidence against itself. And all of those mindless muslims screaming for apology/retribution/revenge are the evolutionary dead end of our time.
I guess it's time to increase the defenses around the Vatican.
Islam is an evil empire.
In the seventh conversation edited by Professor Khoury, the emperor touches on the theme of the jihad (holy war).So it would seem the Islamists' objection is to the historical record.... he turns to his interlocutor somewhat brusquely with the central question on the relationship between religion and violence in general, in these words:
Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.The emperor goes on to explain in detail the reasons why spreading the faith through violence is something unreasonable. Violence is incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul.God is not pleased by blood, and not acting reasonably is contrary to God's nature. Faith is born of the soul, not the body. Whoever would lead someone to faith needs the ability to speak well and to reason properly, without violence and threats... To convince a reasonable soul, one does not need a strong arm, or weapons of any kind, or any other means of threatening a person with death....
The decisive statement in this argument against violent conversion is this: not to act in accordance with reason is contrary to God's nature. The editor, Theodore Khoury, observes: "For the emperor, as a Byzantine shaped by Greek philosophy, this statement is self-evident. But for Muslim teaching, God is absolutely transcendent. His will is not bound up with any of our categories, even that of rationality." Here Khoury quotes a work of the noted French Islamist R. Arnaldez, who points out that Ibn Hazn went so far as to state that God is not bound even by his own word, and that nothing would oblige him to reveal the truth to us. Were it God's will, we would even have to practice idolatry.
Islamists want no historic record. No civilization.
Pope has been harshly critical of USA's WOT, and now maybe he'll see first hand how nuts these people are.
All Muslims want is "regime change" at the Vatican. That's all.
The Swiss Guard better go to the mattresses.
Note to all muslims everywhere: Drop dead. Sooner is better than later
The Pope quoted a 14th Century Emperor. The Islamos are stuck in the 14th Century anyway. They think the words are current. Next, they will be demanding the head of that Emperor.
The problem is that the words are current.
The Muslims are stuck in the 14th century, and are still the same way as that emperor said they were then.
They are violent, suspicious, uneducated, and paranoid.
The media covers the Pope, the way they cover President Bush.
It's two-dimensional. There's no sense of morality, just a sports score, or a contest of wills, being reported on.
Liberals are so simplistic about everything.
The teachings of Christ are precisely what offends these radical Muslims. I guess the teachings of Christ are against the teachings of Christ if we follow Pope Shenouda's logic.
Sad to see this remark from him. I hope that this has been mistranslated or taken out of context.
Pope has been harshly critical of USA's WOT, and now maybe he'll see first hand how nuts these people are.
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Excellent point.
Apologize? In New Jersey they were jumping for joy.
LEIF HETLAND is the founder of Global Mission Awareness based in Florence, Alabama. In 1995, while he was pastoring a small Baptist church in Norway, Leif was invited to a pastors’ meeting where Randy Clark would lay hands on him and catapult his life and ministry into a whole new realm. Since that powerful experience, Leif has ministered in over 51 countries on 5 continents. He is one of the most influential Christian leaders in the Muslim nations today. His meetings and crusades are widely regarded for supernatural healings and signs and wonders.Enormous numbers of Muslims are coming to Christ through Leif's and others' ministries. This move of God through the Muslim world, including Iraq, is quietly reshaping people and events not only in the Middle East, but all over the world. The physical wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are working hand in hand with the spiritual war going on. Each needs the other to succeed.
"We are a religion of peace!!! Now apologize or we will kill you in Allah's name!!!!!!
It's two-dimensional. There's no sense of morality, just a sports score, or a contest of wills, being reported on.
Well expressed and a very perceptive comment.
If he does, we're all doomed. Besides, what he said is well documented fact.
Exactly. I just told him the same thing. I hope he does not capitulate, but remains strong in the face of evil. Here is his email address: benedictxvi@vatican.va
Allah said its OK.
Cairo's grand sheik obviously did not read Pope Benedict's remarks, or if he did, he obviously did not understand them. Besides, ignorance can be cured. Stupidity cannot.
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