the Pope is an uniter

[tocqueville]

Pope's comments on Islam unite Iraqis By REBECCA SANTANA, Associated Press Writer
54 minutes ago


BAGHDAD, Iraq - Often divided by religious differences, Iraq's Shiite and Sunni Arabs united Friday in anger over remarks by Pope Benedict XVI referring to Islam and holy war.

Clerics from both communities, which are locked in a vicious cycle of reprisal attacks that have killed thousands of Iraqis, called the pontiff's comments an insult to the Muslim faith and its founder, Prophet Muhammad.

"We denounce this slander made by the pope on Islam and the figure of the Prophet Muhammad," Sheik Salah al-Ubaidi said in a sermon to about 5,000 people in the Shiite Muslim-stronghold of Kufa, about 100 miles south of Baghdad.

"It is the second assault made on Islam and the prophet. Last year, and in the same month, the Danish cartoon assaulted Islam," he said, referring to caricatures of Muhammad published in a Danish newspaper that set off sometimes violent Muslim protests around the globe.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060915/ap_on_re_mi_ea/pope_iraq

[genie_weenie]

1. "the Danish cartoon assaulted Islam"

Wasn't that the plot of Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

[Hav]

2. .

Ok, so that we can bring it behind us: NAZI NAZI NAZI!
Now we have already reached the usual standard of the typical threads about Ratzinger.

[Freedom_from_Chains]

3. LOL, I think to a certain degree Bush may have done the same

thing as today it appears that some atheists have united with liberal Christians.

[galileo3000]

4. It is obvious that many within their culture feel ...

threatened and beset upon by all sides. I admit that If I was an ambassor to some of the more embittered regions, I suspect I would struggle to normalize relations. Like walking on eggshells.
- galileo3000

[Henny Penny]

5. If only they'd read the damn speech and not let themselves be

manipulated in this manner.

Let me spell it out... THE POPE SAID NOTHING ABOUT MOHAMMED...he quoted a 15th century Byzantine Emperor during the course of a lecture to a bunch of academics... the entire speech is available here...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/15_09_06_pope.pdf

the relevant passage is on page 2.

But for the lazy thinkers amongst you... here is the paragraph in question.

"In the seventh conversation (*4V8,>4H - controversy) edited by Professor Khoury,
the emperor touches on the theme of the holy war. The emperor must have known that
surah 2, 256 reads: "There is no compulsion in religion". According to the experts,
this is one of the suras of the early period, when Mohammed was still powerless and
under threat. But naturally the emperor also knew the instructions, developed later and
recorded in the Qur'an, concerning holy war. Without descending to details, such as
the difference in treatment accorded to those who have the "Book" and the "infidels",
he addresses his interlocutor with a startling brusqueness on the central question about
the relationship between religion and violence in general, saying: "Show me just what
Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and
inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached". The
emperor, after having expressed himself so forcefully, goes on to explain in detail the
reasons why spreading the faith through violence is something unreasonable."

******************

I think any reasonable person would agree that there is great deal of shit stirring going on here...

[Lefty48197]

6. They burned the Pope in effigy to show that they are non-violent

.

[jazzjunkysue]

7. Pretty funny: From the people who brought you "The Inquisition."

"No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!!!"

Now, get the comfy chair!