Look at them. Everyone is laughing and smiling. It's a bunch of guys having a great time burning stuff. Yes, it's under the guise of a protest over the Pope, and yes, that is an effigy of the Pope smoldering on the ground, but by the faces in the crowd, it looks like quite a party.
As for all the leaders actually tearing at their clothes in anger:
But Turkey's top Islamic cleric Ali Bardakoglu asked Benedict to apologise and made a string of accusations against Christianity, raising tensions ahead of a planned papal visit to the country in November.Doesn't that undermine his request for an apology?
Also note the cultural difference: It seems that many Muslims in many countries are extremely angry about the Pope's statements. Protests are going on. Had the most highly respected imam in the world made statements insulting Christians, I could never gather enough friends and neighbors to hold a protest. I'd be lucky if I could find one other guy to hold up the pole with the effigy hanging from it.
UPDATE: In a new post. Cowards.
6 comments:
Of course, the Pope did attack the sola scriptura approach of Protestants in his lecture as well as part of the de-Hellenization of Christianity (or one might say de-Rationalization). No hackles from the Lutheran community as of yet. He also challenged Kant. But I'm pretty sure 95% of the people commeting on the lecture (both for and against) and the reaction have not actually read the Pope's statement.
The Pope's words were poorly chosen and not properly self-reflective of Catholicim's past. I think he should give an apology if it caused the Muslim community as an offense, as a friend does when insulting another friend even if unintentionally. Hopefully the sides won't harden too much before that happens.
The whole thing reminded me of a white DC bureaucrat who used "niggardly" in his speech to describe how seriously he took his responsibilities for the benefits of the taxpayers. Some illiterate misinterpreted that to be the dreaded "N" word. The poor guy apologized again and again for the following weeks, and finally lost his job.
Moral: There is no way a rational person can anticipate how his words and meanings be twisted by irrational, illiterate, deluded losers. So it doesn't matter what you say, your words will be distorted.
There's a point in all this that isn't made enough: Islam claims to supercede Christianity. Christians by definition have rejected that claim, and the Pope as a major Christian leader should therefore not be expected to say nice things about Islam or the Koran. It would be like Bill Ford going on TV and telling everyone to buy GM and Chrysler products.
anonmous said...
"The Pope's words were poorly chosen"
There is very little chance that the Pope's words were poorly chosen. Like many artists, writers get better with age and the Pope has been writing and speaking in public for decades. I think his words were an excellent choice. In one speech he has demonstrated that you can't reason someone out of an unreasoned position. The second "anonymous" back this up. Some muslims feel they have the right to change what we do, what we say and what we think. They think they have the right to force us into their religion at tip of a sword. We know that now. Now what do we do?
I'd hold the pole with you Freeman, no matter who's effigy was hanging from it.
"Hopefully the sides won't harden too much before that happens."
I'm not sure you've been looking at the reaction from our Muslim "friends" quite closely enough. The Pope's relatively tame lecture has been used as reason to justify setting things on fire, screaming for jihad and beheadings, and whining about a "Jewish"/Catholic conspiracy by a "blood-sucking vampire that is the Pope".
This is how "friends" act? Even in a disagreement? I don't think so.
When a few words are enough to set off such a ridiculous level of outrage, insults, and strife, I don't think you can say you're dealing with a simple "disagreement between friends".
What you're dealing with is a group of fanatics who think it is their right to subjugate us to their religion by force, and the slightest resistence to this idea is met with the kind of stunned outrage we're seeing now... and not for the first time.
This isn't a question of "two sides" hardening up because of an off choice of words by the Pope. One side is denouncing violence in the name of religion, which has hit a nerve in the other side because violence in the name of religion is their bread and butter.
"Hardened"? I'm sorry, but the other side is like cement poured a thousand years ago. They don't give one flying crap about wanting to "be friends" with us infidels.
We better ALL figure that out and act accordingly. Or we're going to lose this fight.
We aren't dealing with the wounded feelings of "friends". We're dealing with the vicous outrage of a DETERMINED ENEMY. An enemy that has been tasked with conquering Christian lands and spreading their Faith by the sword since the time of Muhammad himself.
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