So because of what Evil Christians may have done 1000 years ago we should not condem evil done today by muslims. Got it.
"The Quran, Bible and other sacred books should come with a warning label," he said. "It should say, `These This books may contain contains passages that can be are interpreted for violence and intolerance.'"
What the article neglects to mention is that Christians who kill and conquer do it in SPITE of their source text, the Bible, in which Jesus says that He came to save men's lives, not to destroy them, that we are to treat one another as we would like to be treated, that those who hate are murderers in their hearts, and that Satan comes to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.
And mohammetans who kill and conquer do it BECAUSE of their source text, the Koran, in which their prophet Mohammet says to steal, and to kill and to destroy the infidels, to strike off their necks, to lie in wait for them, and to treat them as vermin and dogs.
But AP probably wants nothing to do with a good Comparative Religion course, which is probably what the Pope has in mind.
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This was inevitable, and actually I don't see how any talks can proceed without getting it 'out of the way.' Once it's out of the way, then no one has to shuck and jive to defend that which you really can't, and more to the point shouldn't want to defend. In addition, it is a means of each side to remember the unspeakable suffering of those who met their untimely death at the hands of such perverted sadists. It remembers them, and it honors them as such. Honesty matters.
Then of course, the Moslems need to step up to the plate. Find a Churchill and a Bonhoeffer, if you can, to begin the extirpation. But, I really think that the same enervation of the masses, the same fear of the masses, that failed to put down Hitler are the same as they ever were. Leaders are needed, there is no doubt that, but what those on the ground can do, once they're prepared to pay the Cost of Discipleship is what can really make the difference. Soldiers have always proved they understand the Cost, but the general populace has only proved that in limited quantity.
Puhleeze. Same old same old.
First of all, Christians are not commanded either by their scriptures or tradition to commit violence.
Secondly, much of the "violence" is grossly exaggerated or is actually not linked to religion at all. The Crusades were defensive wars to retake the Holy Land and free Christians enslaved by Muslims - it is estimated that some 90,000 prisoners were freed. The sack of Constantinople that occurred in the later Crusade had nothing to do with religion, but was stemmed from the involvement of the Crusaders (who at that point were a very poorly disciplined lot) with some of the warring factions that governed Constantinople.
The Spanish Inquisition initially affected only Catholics and was an attempt to restore order to a church that was rife with heresy and disorder because of the many years Spain had spent under Islam and without bishops. Much of its initial phase was directed at clergy, particularly at rooting out immorality among them. Its later phase was highly political and the Inquisitors, in addition, had become politically powerful - and the Pope sent bulls attempting to stop it, which were ignored. So it was hardly a concerted policy of the Church in particular or Christianity in general.
As for the American Indians, the Church did not kill or harm them in any way; missionaries went with the soldiers, but then set out on their own to preach (unarmed) to the natives, which is why so many of them were martyred. Missionaries also did their best to ensure better treatment of the Indians, and the Spanish, in particular, were forbidden to enslave the Indians. Columbus was punished for having done so.
But these things matter little to those with an agenda.
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The pope has said: no violence in the name of relgion. I am still waiting for Muslims to say. "Right on." All this crap is liberalism 101, knee jerk retorts to anything the pope says.
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