Vatican reaches out to Islamic world (well, they've come to the right place)

BBC ^ | 4/29/2002 | David Willey

[a_Turk]

The Vatican has signed an unprecedented agreement with the Government of Turkey to promote religious dialogue between Christians and Muslims.

The agreement, signed at the Vatican last Friday, was made public only today and was initialled by Cardinal Francis Arinze, the Head of the Papal Council for Inter-religious Dialogue and by Mehmet Yilmaz, the Head of Turkey's Religious Affairs office.

It breaks new ground in the Vatican's current attempts to reach out towards the Islamic world.

It is the first time the Vatican has signed such an agreement with the government of a predominantly Muslim country as apart from with a religious institution.

Connections 'difficult'

The Vatican already has established links with one of the most prestigious universities in the Muslim world, the al-Azhar mosque in Cairo.

However the Pope's advisers on inter-religious dialogue have always found it difficult to establish new connections with the Muslim world which has no central authority and no equivalent to the Pope and his hierarchy of cardinals and bishops.

Therefore, a senior Vatican official explained that as there is no great difference within the Muslim world between religious and governmental authorities, the official partner in this case is a department of the Turkish Government.

The Vatican's agreement with Turkey promotes liberty of religion, of belief and of conscience and aims to eliminate prejudices.

[a_Turk]

the Cross (the Roman Catholics) is uniting with the Crescent against the Star of David

You're hysterical. Did you know that the word hysterectomy was derived from the word hysteria?

[history_matters]

Bless you, dear Askel5. Cardinal Arinze has been establishing connections where one would think it impossible. His successful meeting in Tripoli, Libya still boggles my mind. I believe Cardinal Arinze must be one of the odds on favorites -- papabile -- for our next Pope.

[Tasha]

The Roman Catholic Church in Europe was always pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel. I don't remember, but, ten years ago they finally recognised Israel, and started diplomatic relations. The sentiment of the Roman Catholic Church is not top secret. But by attacking the Roman Catholic Church and trying to shake them down, you're going to make them turn toward the Muslim world. That is exactly what is happening, it is not hysteria. You'd have to live in Europe for a while to understand what I'm talking about.
I am not against the Roman Catholic Church, I am against the stupidity of the media which tries to play politics, and everytime they do it they lose.

[My Identity]

Nice. Pull out quotes from individuals to smear an entire religion.

Individuals? Try religious leaders.
And if they represent the religion,
then they should be quoted widely.

Want to hear some quotes just as bad from Ehrenburg and Zinoviev?

Ilya Ehrenburg?? the Soviet propagandist? What national religion did he lead? LOL -- Ditto for Zinoviev!

What is the purpose of trying to denigrate a long time friend and ally of the United States?

Possibly you are referring to Turkey? Not sure how I denigrated Turkey. I have a lot of respect for them. They have their hands full with the radicals. Nevertheless, the hope that the Vatican can establish a meaningful dialogue with Islam through Turkey seems a stretch. It appears that Islam is too decentralized to be engaged meaningfully. And to the extent that militant islam is an Arab phenomenon, the larger problem will not go away, regardless of any success in Turkey.

Make every Muslim in the world hate Americans as much as they hate Jews?

LOL!! Not sure how much more hate could be generated in certain islamic circles.
Your prescription for not quoting Islamic leaders so that Muslims won't hate us is quite humorous!!

[Askel5]

Molnar made some interesting comments to the effect that -- given the extraordinarily troubling times ahead for this poor world -- we probably need an Italian who can navigate extremely rough waters.

I too admire Arinze.

[cornelis]

given the extraordinarily troubling times ahead for this poor world

--“The first condition for improving the present situation [is] an awareness of its enormous difficulty. We must realize that it is very hard to save a civilization when its hour has come to fall beneath the power of demagogues.”

--Ortega y Gasset

[My Identity]

And speaking of crusades, some good local resources:

The Real History of the Crusades
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/661560/posts
Excellent article

The Battle over the Crusades
http://www.FreeRepublic.com/focus/news/517546/posts
Myths, Legends and Anti-Catholic "Histories"

Crusades: A defensive operation
http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a37b3506b6e8a.htm
"If anyone should be apologizing, it is the Muslims"

Crusades Nonsense From U.S. News & World Report
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/665181/posts
Don't expect accuracy on this subject from the popular media

[berned]

Allow me to link you to another thread. LINK

Be sure to check out my comments in # 4, and the responses I got in #6, #7, and #9.

[sarasmom]

"Make every Muslim in the world hate Americans as much as they hate Jews?"

I must have totally missunderstood all the "islamic imams" quotes proclaiming the USA/Americans as the "great satan".

The jewish people are simply a diversion, although the historically,politically correct one for ignorant vicious cults.The USA is the grand finale for the deranged muslims. The USA has the greatest population of infidels in the world!

Sadly, for the muslims,we dont die quietly, nor do we believe the world will live in peace if only the "jews" are exterminated.Been there, done that, T-shirt worn out.

Those who refuse to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.Dresden=Mecca/Medina X 10.

[Askel5]

Ortega y Gasset

HEY ... I meant to write you about him. His name came up several times last week. I've been missing out (save for posts and listening to you and Nebullis talk).

Where do you suggest I start?

[Askel5]

      The USA has the greatest population of infidels in the world!

      What you talkin' 'bout, Willis?

[a_Turk]

Sadly, for the muslims,we dont die quietly

Painful words. Most of us don't want you to die at all. Most of us have no problem with you. Yet sarasmom and a bunch of others who have never paid any attention to anything outside of their immediate surroundings for years and years, now suddenly read the garble of a few idiots and think they've figgered me out.

If you're like this, I hate to think what Sarah's like..

[LarryLied]

Ilya Ehrenburg?? the Soviet propagandist? What national religion did he lead? LOL -- Ditto for Zinoviev!

Ok. Trotsky then. He thought a proletarian revolution was the only way to acheive a Jewish state. A state which has come in handy for human monsters such as Morel and Dushanski. Nice place to hide out when you are charged with genocide and crimes against humanity.

Why not simply drop the "all Muslims are the same" nonsense? The official US policy is not to wage war on all Muslims. Your rhetoric feeds right into the Hezbollah nutcases which are trying over throw our Muslim allies and kick the USA out of our bases in the Gulf.

[cornelis]

Where to start? How about The Idea of Principle in Leibnitz and the Evolution of Deductive Theory?

Here's a link of quotes

He's often cited as the author of The Revolt of the Masses.

I highly recommend this very nice volume Velazquez, Goya, and The Dehumanization of Art

[MarMema]

testing the waters by praying at the Hagia Sophia. Nobody gave him any flak about it.

Well I would have, but I wasn't there. :-)

[MarMema]

Here's a frightening read.

[Askel5]

Thanks Cornelis. (Trust all is well with you and yours.)

[GOPcapitalist]

"The Mohammedan temper was not tolerant. It was, on the contrary, fanatical and bloodthirsty. It felt no respect for, nor even curiosity about, those from whom it differed. It was absurdly vain of itself, regarding with contempt the high Christian culture about it. It still so regards it even today." - Hilaire Belloc, The Great Heresies

It's truly sad how far we've come since the time when mohammedism was called what it truly is. A heresy.

[My Identity]

Why not simply drop the "all Muslims are the same" nonsense? The official US policy is not to wage war on all Muslims. Your rhetoric feeds right into the Hezbollah nutcases...

Your brush paints a little too broadly. I never said or implied that "all Muslims are the same" or anything remotely like that. You can do better.

---

Let me leave you with a little snip from Oriana who is pretty far to the left.

"But this thing won’t end, won’t die out with the death of Osama Bin Laden. Because there are tens of thousands of Osama Bin Ladens by now, and they’re not only in Afghanistan or in other Arabic countries. They’re everywhere, and the most hardened ones are right in the Western world. In our cities, on our roads, in our universities, in the ganglions of technology. That technology that any dolt can handle. The Crusade has been in progress for some time. It works like a Swiss watch, sustained by a faith and a malice comparable only to the faith and malice of Torquemada when he led the Inquisition. The fact is that dealing with them is impossible. Reasoning? Unthinkable! Treating them with indulgence, tolerance or hope? Suicide! Whoever thinks differently is deluded."

Anger and Pride
by Oriana Fallaci