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The Guardian of Islamic ExtremismBy Robert SpencerFrontPageMagazine.com | September 21, 2006 As the global Muslim reaction to Pope Benedict XVI’s recent remarks on Islam threaten to eclipse last winter’s Cartoon Rage in irrationality and violence, there has been the usual and by now predictable undercurrent of sympathy on the Left for those breathing threats and murder against the Pope and the West. Notable among the spokesmen for appeasement and accommodation of violent Islamic intimidation was Karen Armstrong, author of the popular books Islam: A Short History and Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet. Armstrong on Monday published a piece in...

Radical Muslim clerics and scholars in Pakistan have demanded the removal of Pope Benedict XVI for what they called "insulting remarks" against Islam. The Pope should be dismissed for "encouraging war and fanning hostility between various faiths" the hundreds of senior Muslims said in a joint message. The Pope has said he is "deeply sorry" that his words, quoting a 14th Century Christian emperor, had upset Muslims. But his apology was rejected by the Muslims meeting in Lahore, Pakistan. "The Pope, and all infidels, should know that no Muslim, under any circumstances, can tolerate an insult to the Prophet [Muhammad]....

Muslims want Pontiff out Clerics, scholars call for Benedict removal after controversial Islam remarks by AP LAHORE, Pakistan -- About 1,000 Muslim clerics and religious scholars meeting yesterday in eastern Pakistan demanded the removal of Pope Benedict for making what they called "insulting remarks" against Islam.

The Pope has invited envoys of Muslim nations for talks on Monday to try to smooth relations following a speech that offended the Islamic world. The talks at Pope Benedict XVI's summer residence will aim to explain that the pontiff's recent speech in Germany has been misunderstood, the Vatican said. The pontiff has said three times that he regrets the offence caused, expressing "deep respect" for Islam. Muslim leaders have been demanding an unequivocal apology from the Pope. The pontiff invited Muslim ambassadors and leaders of Italy's Muslim community to his residence of Castel Gandolfo, outside Rome, the Vatican said....

This Friday, September 22, 2006, votaries of Islam worldwide, defying the timeless wisdom of G.K. Chesterton, are preparing to “ape an ancient rage” with organized demonstrations condemning Pope Benedict XVI’s 9/12/06 remarks. In an earlier essay, I described at some length the historical context for the comments Pope Benedict made which have so inflamed both the Muslim leadership, and masses. Benedict cited one of the later examples of a vigorous Muslim-Christian polemic that transpired for at least four centuries, during the 11th through 15th centuries. Specifically, the Pope alluded  to the late 14th century Byzantine ruler Manuel II Paleologus’ statements...

Hundreds of Pakistani Islamists held street protests to condemn Pope Benedict XVI for remarks they regard as anti-Islamic, with one leader saying the pontiff should be crucified. Demonstrators Friday poured out of mosques after the main weekly Muslim prayers in Pakistan's largest city Karachi, the eastern city of Lahore, the capital Islamabad and other urban centres. "If the pope comes here we will hang him on the Cross," Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, a senior leader of Pakistan's main alliance of radical parties, told around 200 noisy demonstrators in Islamabad. The alliance, called the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal or United Action Front, forms part...

The Guardian of Islamic Extremism http://www.aina.org/news/20060921100346.htm ................................................................................................... Churches Firebombed By Members Of The "Religion of Peace" http://www.postchronicle.com/commentary/article_21240687.shtml ...................................................................................................If Islam is the religion of peace, it should act like it http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2006/092006/09212006/223419 The Free Lance-Star, VA - Sep 21, 2006... My next complaint is the lame argument that says something along the lines of "Islam (the religion of peace) doesn't promote violence; remember Christians are ......................................................................................................Death threats from the 'religion of peace' http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=52078

Pope Benedict's comments last week that sparked such a furor have united the Muslim world. But the bigger story is the effect those comments are having among Catholics. Anger toward Pope Benedict xvi is unifying Muslims, but a growing sense of sympathy and loyalty to the pontiff is rousing Catholics and Europeans to his defense. We have all seen the images of rage-ridden Muslims rioting in the streets, torching churches and demanding and re-demanding an apology from the pope. Largely underreported, however, is the growing number of Catholics and Europeans surging to Benedict’s defense. Islamic rage is igniting a deeper...

September 22, 2006 Churches Burned as Muslims Riot in Nigeria Over Pope Remarks The Religion of Free Speech and Freedom of Religion in Africa. Blasphemy against the 'Prophet' Mohammed is a capital offense under Islamic law. Reuters: Nigerian authorities have imposed a night curfew on the northern town of Dutse after Muslim mobs burned 11 churches over what they said was blasphemy against the Prophet Mohammad by a Christian woman, police said on Thursday. Scores of houses and shops owned by Christians were also torched in the capital of remote Jigawa state during a riot on Wednesday sparked by a...

Always nice when a bishop criticizes the Pope in a homily: In an example that's very timely, I think, and I say this with some hesitation because I'm going to talk about Pope Benedict. I think that's the problem that happened this week. He listened selectively to God's word, and when he proclaimed the message that he proclaimed this week -- what he said that would cause so much trouble, he discussed the Islamic concept of jihad, which he defined as "holy war," and he said that "violence in the name of religion is contrary to God's nature and...

Hearing pundits and spinmeisters opine that Benedict XVI had not mastered the skills of media management was a reminder that in the world of appearances, papier mâché figures usurp in surface what they lack in depth. Contrary to his detractors, the pope is dealing in the real world. The leader of the world's most ancient institution, one with an unbroken continuity that spans over two millennia, and a memory to match, took a stand with his report of the dialogue between Byzantine Emperor Manuel II and an "educated Persian" on he subject of Islam and jihad. That dialogue occurred in...

Religious fanatics, regardless of what name they give their jealous god, invariably have one thing in common: no sense of humor. Particularly about themselves. It's hard to imagine Torquemada taking a joke well. Today's Islamists seem to have not even a sense of irony. They fail to see the richness of the following sequence. The Pope makes a reference to a 14th-century Byzantine emperor's remark about Islam imposing itself by the sword, and to protest this linking of Islam and violence: In the West Bank and Gaza, Muslims attack seven churches. In London, the ever-dependable radical Anjem Choudary tells a...

Pointing out that Cardinal Camillo Ruini has grasped the essence of the pontificate of Benedict XVI better than other Church leaders, Vatican insider Sandro Magister released a new column today supporting Ruini’s praise for the Pontiff’s “splendid” lecture at the University of Regensburg. On Monday, the Vicar of the Diocese of Rome and President of the Italian Bishops Conference told a group of Italian prelates that it was, “a cause of surprise and sadness that some of the statements in the lecture have been misunderstood to the point of being interpreted as an offense against the Islamic religion.”   The...

Washington, D.C. -- It's been a tough week for prelates and politicians. As the UN General Assembly began its annual séance in New York, Pope Benedict XVI, head of one billion Roman Catholics across the world, and arguably Christendom's most visible leader, was threatened with death by Muslim extremists. Not one of the visiting dignitaries to the “World Body” -- as the UN is fond of describing itself -- so much as raised a plucked eyebrow or waved a manicured finger at this outrage. Perhaps that's because the very secular UN Charter deftly avoids any mention of God, a Creator,...

It's been a tough week for prelates and politicians. As the U.N. General Assembly began its annual seance in New York, Pope Benedict XVI, head of 1 billion Roman Catholics across the world, and arguably Christendom's most visible leader, was threatened with death by Muslim extremists. Not one of the visiting dignitaries to the "World Body" -- as the United Nations is fond of describing itself -- so much as raised a plucked eyebrow or waved a manicured finger at this outrage. Perhaps that's because the very secular U.N. Charter deftly avoids any mention of God, a Creator, a Supreme...

Treasurer Peter Costello has defended Pope Benedict XVI over his controversial comments on Islam, saying the violent reaction was about the stifling of free speech. In an address to a Christian gathering in which he attacked the efforts of Islamic extremists to force their views on nations, Mr Costello urged his audience to read the Pope's speech and wonder at the violent reaction. It's the second time in recent months the treasurer has opened up on the subject of Islamic extremism, earlier calling on those who would introduce sharia law to Australia to look for another country in which to...

Paris, 20 Sept. (IPS) If he wanted, and it was not his aim, the Pope Benedict XVI could not perform in a better way to demonstrate the irrationality, the intolerance and the violence of the Muslims when he spoke about relationship between Islam and violence in Germany last week. In part of his speech at the University of Regensburg on “faith and reason,” the pontiff recounted a conversation between an “erudite” Byzantine Christian emperor and a “learned” Muslim Persian circa 1391, the pope quoted the emperor saying, “Show me just what Mohammad brought that was new, and there you will...

WASHINGTON — Already saddled with resolving a looming nuclear showdown with Iran, the Bush administration now faces the possibility that that country's new leader helped take 52 Americans hostage in 1979. Earlier, the White House indicated.... Five Americans who were held for more than a year in the hostage crisis believe that Ahmadinejad was one of their captors.

It was said after the Holocaust by those who believed in freedom, decency and tolerance that, "We are all Jews now." After the events of the past week it is now time for those who still believe in these virtues, irrespective of religion or race, to stand up and proudly announce, "We are all Catholics now." Yes, we are all Catholics now. Catholic like the Holy Father who spoke scholarly and moderate words about Islam, dialogue and the error of spreading religion by force. Words for which there was never any need to apologize. Nor did he. Pope Benedict merely...

Nearly a dozen Christian churches have been burned and hundreds of people forced to seek refuge in a police station by Muslims who rioted through the Nigerian city of Dutse, and they blamed their actions on a "comment" made by a Christian woman. According to a Reuters report, authorities in the city imposed a night curfew this week to try to quell the violence allegedly triggered by a statement by a woman that Muslims said was a blasphemy to Mohammad. Scores of houses and shops owned by Christians also were burned in the Jigawa state capital city, police spokesman Haz...