You have to admire this guy
CNN brings around this story.
It was not a laid-back Turkish holiday. The citizens of the proud, predominantly Muslim nation had no love of Popes. To the East, the Iranian government was galvanizing anti-Western feeling.
The news reported that an escaped killer was on the loose, threatening to assassinate the pontiff when he arrived. Yet the Holy Father was undaunted.
"Love is stronger than danger," he said. "I am in the hands of God."
I could end the article right here with applause and leave it at that. Brave words from an admirable man. This, however, refers to John Paul II back in the 70's. What does Time Magazine think about the Holy See these days? Why, they do nothing but foment trouble!
Instead, Benedict, 79, will arrive carrying a much different reputation: that of a hard-knuckle intellect with a taste for blunt talk and interreligious confrontation. Just 19 months into his tenure, the pope has become as much a lightning rod as a moral leader; suddenly, when he speaks, the whole world listens.
He spoke out against religious violence, for God's sake. The response? Violence. Violence on the part of barbaric neanderthals who, when challenged to clean up the image of their own religion, respond by murdering Catholic clergy worldwide.
The topic is extraordinarily fraught: there are, after all, a billion or so nonviolent Muslims on the globe; the Roman Catholic church's own record in the religious-mayhem department is hardly pristine; and even the most naive of observers understands that the Vicar of Christ might harbor an institutional prejudice against one of Christianity's main global competitors.
Give me a break. The medieval injustices done by the Church were left in the MEDIEVAL AGES, where they belonged. The ash-heap of history! As for these billions of nonviolent Muslims, the pope wasn't even speaking in regards to them. (By the way, where are their voices of protests when the extremist take it upon themselves to butcher innocents?) The final line reveals the greatest misunderstanding that these secular liberal pricks can't seem to get out of their skull: THIS IS NOT A CRUSADE.
Look, I'm not saying Islam is inherently a bad religion that promotes violence, and neither does Benedict. Instead, what he is saying is that Muslim leaders MUST rise to the occasion to condemn violence, just as it would fall to the pope to do the same if it were Christians blowing themselves up around the world. Muslims will not find acceptance until they can clean up the disease that's eating away at their faith.
Benedict won't back down, and he shouldn't because he's 100% correct.
It was not a laid-back Turkish holiday. The citizens of the proud, predominantly Muslim nation had no love of Popes. To the East, the Iranian government was galvanizing anti-Western feeling.
The news reported that an escaped killer was on the loose, threatening to assassinate the pontiff when he arrived. Yet the Holy Father was undaunted.
"Love is stronger than danger," he said. "I am in the hands of God."
I could end the article right here with applause and leave it at that. Brave words from an admirable man. This, however, refers to John Paul II back in the 70's. What does Time Magazine think about the Holy See these days? Why, they do nothing but foment trouble!
Instead, Benedict, 79, will arrive carrying a much different reputation: that of a hard-knuckle intellect with a taste for blunt talk and interreligious confrontation. Just 19 months into his tenure, the pope has become as much a lightning rod as a moral leader; suddenly, when he speaks, the whole world listens.
He spoke out against religious violence, for God's sake. The response? Violence. Violence on the part of barbaric neanderthals who, when challenged to clean up the image of their own religion, respond by murdering Catholic clergy worldwide.
The topic is extraordinarily fraught: there are, after all, a billion or so nonviolent Muslims on the globe; the Roman Catholic church's own record in the religious-mayhem department is hardly pristine; and even the most naive of observers understands that the Vicar of Christ might harbor an institutional prejudice against one of Christianity's main global competitors.
Give me a break. The medieval injustices done by the Church were left in the MEDIEVAL AGES, where they belonged. The ash-heap of history! As for these billions of nonviolent Muslims, the pope wasn't even speaking in regards to them. (By the way, where are their voices of protests when the extremist take it upon themselves to butcher innocents?) The final line reveals the greatest misunderstanding that these secular liberal pricks can't seem to get out of their skull: THIS IS NOT A CRUSADE.
Look, I'm not saying Islam is inherently a bad religion that promotes violence, and neither does Benedict. Instead, what he is saying is that Muslim leaders MUST rise to the occasion to condemn violence, just as it would fall to the pope to do the same if it were Christians blowing themselves up around the world. Muslims will not find acceptance until they can clean up the disease that's eating away at their faith.
Benedict won't back down, and he shouldn't because he's 100% correct.
Labels: The Radicals
posted by Sigmatus at 1:32 PM
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