Thank you UK Muslims (Bishop Rowan Williams)

src="http://islamicmediacity.com/cms_files/news_images/1238234391.jpg";> (nola.com) I think Islam has made a very significant contribution to getting a debate about religion into public life, Williams said.

CAIRO — In an unprecedented move by a Western Christian leader, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams has praised British Muslims for bringing back religion and ethics into public life.

"I think Islam has made a very significant contribution to getting a debate about religion into public life," Williams, the leader of the Anglican Church, told the Muslim News.

"And I think it's very right that we should have these debates and discussions between Muslims and Christians and others in public."

This is the first time a Western Christian leader thanks Muslims for bringing back religion to a secular Western society.

"Both Muslims and Christians have a very strong sense of God's will being done in community, when we really follow the needs of the community and work for one another on that in the will of God."

The Anglican leader, however, admitted that the Christian Muslim Forum, which he initiated in 2001 for brining (sic) UK Muslims and Christians together, had not reached the grassroots so far.

"The conversation of the elite and intellectuals isn't in itself going to change anything," he pointed out.

"We've got to deal with it and complicated questions, but we have to make good neighbors."

The Archbishop stressed the significant role of faith schools in enhancing interfaith dialogue and community harmony.

"Keep the presence of religion in our educational institutions and I think there is a lot that can be done there," he said.

Williams has repeatedly defend (sic) faith schools in Britain as contributing to the promotion of religious tolerance.

He asserted that faith schools are already proven in their ability to reach out across faith boundaries and help to build confidence in minority communities. Source: IslamOnline

“We should fix our own spiritual house first. Part of the problem is our lukewarm faith.”

Yes, which is why I believe Pope Benedict is working hard to unite us all under one roof so to speak. There are very strong Catholics, along with other strong allies, such as, the Baptists and Evangelicals (imo, our strongest), with support from Orthodox Jews, Orthodox Christians, Atheists, and Mainline Protestants. I continue to be amazed as to why so many people of different faiths, and non-religious, just don’t get the danger of Islam. One must fight fire with fire and I believe the greatest weapon against Islam is the Catholic Church simply because they are the Moral Authority of the West. Our weapons are the Holy Bible, Traditions and Magisterium against Islam’s Koran, Hadith, and Sharia. There is no comparison. The Church will play a major role when the time comes. I hope and pray Pope Benedict will still be here. Meanwhile we all have to pray that our weaker brethren will wake-up sooooon.

Pope Benedict to Muslims: True religion is rational, peaceful, and non-totalitarian

“Pope tells Muslims that religion rejects violence,” by Victor L. Simpson for the AP, March 19:

YAOUNDE, Cameroon (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI told Muslim leaders on Thursday that true religion rejects violence, and he held up peaceful coexistence between Christianity and Islam in Cameroon as “a beacon to other African nations.”[...]

“Genuine religion ... stands at the base of any authentically human culture,” he said. “It rejects all forms of violence and totalitarianism: not only on principles of faith but also of right reason.”[...]

The pope has often spoken of the need for religion to shun violence, but has refrained from pointing any finger at specific faiths since a 2006 speech delivered in Germany in which he linked Islam to violence...
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iLJ2gzRRfTYc_YuS7r1yuwnmne-gD97119G02

The only reason they’re getting along in Cameroon at the moment, is because Muslims are currently a minority, but the Pope had to throw them a bone after his pointed criticism. They probably didn’t even take his ‘subtle’ critique about Islam personally anyway, thinking he was talking about the Jewish religion. I mean how on earth could the Pope mean them, they’re the Religion of Peace, doesn’t the MSM and most governments tell them that daily...

Anti-Muslim atheist leaves papers to Vatican
Updated Sat. Oct. 21 2006 11:34 PM ET
Associated Press

ROME — An Italian journalist and self-described atheist who died last month has left most of her books and notes to a pontifical university in Rome because of her admiration for Pope Benedict, a school official said Saturday.

Oriana Fallaci had described the pontiff as an ally in her campaign to rally Christians in Europe against what she saw as a Muslim crusade against the West. As she battled breast cancer last year, she had a private audience with Benedict, who had been elected only a few months earlier, at the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo.

In one of her final interviews, Fallaci told The Wall Street Journal: “I am an atheist, and if an atheist and a Pope think the same things, there must be something true.”
[...]
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20061021/fallaci_vatican_061021

Pope Benedict didn’t want a repeat performance of Germany but he continues to give them hints that he’s onto them. Take the Baptism of the ex-Muslim he Baptized last year, for all the world to see, if it wasn’t to send a message. Oriana knew where the answer lay which is why she headed for the Vatican. He’s such a very strong, smart and brave man - no wonder Oriana Fallaci was impressed.

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