SJC is in the midst of a classic meltdown, while cementing 'suspicions' of him being a bigot along the way (mocking people for the way they're dressed, calling them 'dirty' or 'unclean' and that they need to shave; calling a picture of people peacefully protesting "assholes" because he doesn't like their facial expressions or the long beards, despite the fact that he can't even read the banner they're holding). Keep it up, SJC, you're digging your own grave... You don't have to, your words are expressive enough...
I think SJC sees Islam as the problem, it doesn't make him a bigot, just someone expressing his views. I agree with the poster earlier who commented on religion actually being the root cause, but then you guys have heard me say that before too. What I don't understand is why the Muslims seem to get upset when they get the tiniest bit of criticism.......and yet, the Iran leaders are talking about Israel in very harsh tones. Or people calling the US many names, we don't get all huffy and whiny like many Muslims do, why is that? Why are the Muslims so whiny and so thin skinned? DD
Idiotic overreaction by some elements in the Muslim world. The manufactured 'outrage' is more 'outrageous' than anything the Pope said. The most that should be done (if anything at all, really, I don't believe this even deserved publicity) is express 'dismay' at what the Pope said, then move on. Once again, the obnoxious few show up...
Don't overgeneralize, the vast majority of Muslims could give a you-know-what about what the Pope said. A few hundred Muslim protesters are hardly representative of roughly a fourth of humanity who subscribe to the Islamic faith in one form or another, much as the few extremists of any religious/ethnic group aren't representative of the whole. You play right into the hands of extremists/terrorists when you essentially 'lump' all Muslims together by the actions of a few.
You took the bait !! This is EXACTLY what people are going to do though, and it is why I have been saying all along that the moderates need to take control of that religion because the rest of the world is starting to lump all of them into one category, and that is exactly what the terrorists want, and what the world doesn't need. DD
Italian nun killed in Mogadishu Gunmen have shot dead an Italian nun in the Somali capital Mogadishu, witnesses and medical workers have said. The attackers shot the nun three times in the back in a hospital in the south of the city, also killing her bodyguard before fleeing the scene. The nun, who has not been named, is believed to be in her seventies. It is unclear whether the shooting is connected with strong criticism by radical Somali clerics about the Pope's recent comments on Islam. Hardline cleric Sheikh Abubakar Hassan Malin on Friday told worshippers at his mosque to hunt down and kill whoever offended the Prophet Mohammed. Yusuf Mohamed Siad, security chief for the Union of Islamic courts (UIC) which controls Mogadishu, said two people had been arrested over the shooting. There has been no effective central government in Somalia since 1991, and although the UIC is credited with bringing some stability to Mogadishu, correspondents say the city is far too dangerous for all but the bravest aid workers to operate in. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/5353850.stm
This is where international hit squads would do wonders. If any cleric or religious leader calls for someone to murder someone else, for ideologies, they would automatically become a target of an assasination squad. If you encourage killing someone and inciting others to do it, you automatically get targeted. It would sure make all these IDIOTS think twice about encouraging their congregations from doing something that they don't have the courage or GUTS to do themselves. DD
A nun shot to death for helping sick and dying Muslims -- Muslim manhood can really take pride in this. This is another in a long list of cowardly acts by a people once known for their bravery but who now seem to have no shame or moral value.
DD hit the nail on the head. There are too many thin-skinned extremists out there who don't like their deity and religion talked about negatively. The pope was giving a speech and made a quote from a 14th century Byzantine emperor. Did he condemn the quote? No. Did he praise the quote? No. The extremists need to get over it as do their religious leaders who "condemn" what the pope has said and that their followers should act out. This just adds gasoline to the fire everytime we see these extremists rioting and burning pictures of the pope. The next time I hear my religion talked about negatively, or someone makes a comment about Jesus that I don't particularly like, I think I'll flip a couple of cars and start some fires, cause that'll show'em all. (By the way I don't plan on doing any of that stuff).
Those who look at the pope's quote and his speech and kill because of it or become violent because of it are clearly very wrong, and need to be gotten rid of. They are a danger. First of all they aren't really understanding the whole speech or where it came from. Secondly, violence isn't the answer even if their misinterpretation were actually the correct one. Thirdly it is too bad the Pope chose such a clumsy, and insensitive, and stupid way to try to make a valid point. Misunderstanding from all sides is really creating a mess.
What proud people known for their bravery are you talking about? Terrorists have never really been known for their bravery. If you are talking about Muslims the action of terrorists doesn't change the average muslim's moral value, or ability to feel shame.
Where's the "no he's not a racist, and not it wasn't a poor choice of words"? The people rioting in the streets over these remarks are also the same people who want every non-Muslim murdered.
Hamas PM denounces attacks on West Bank churches http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060917/wl_mideast_afp/vaticanpopeislam_060917141110 NABLUS, West Bank (AFP) - The head of the Hamas-led government, Ismail Haniya, denounced a spate of attacks on Christian churches in the Palestinian territories after assailants targeted two West Bank churches following Pope Benedict XVI's comments on Islam. "This is totally rejected," Haniya told reporters in Gaza City Sunday. "Any Palestinian citizen should stop attacking Christian churches in the Palestinian territories. The Christian brothers are a part of the Palestinian people, and I heard the highest Christian authority in Palestine denouncing the statements against Islam and against Muslims." Haniya's statement came after two churches in the northern West Bank came under attack from unidentified assailants on a third day of attacks in the Palestinian territories following Tuesday's remarks by Pope Benedict XVI linking Islam with violence. In Tulkarem, assailants broke into a disused church and set a car tire ablaze, causing serious damage, they said. In Tubas, assailants threw rocks and Molotov cocktails at the windows of another church. Other senior Palestinian officials echoed Haniya's calls. Palestinian lawmaker and former Gaza security chief Mohammad Dahlan condemned the attacks on churches and urged the Hamas government to do more to protect Palestinian Christians. Dahlan, a loyalist of president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah party, in a statement called on the interior minister of the Hamas government, Said Siam, to "take all necessary steps to protect the churches from repeated assaults". In Bethelehem, traditional birthplace of Jesus Christ, Palestinian police said they had beefed up security around the city's churches. "We are taking security precautions to protect the churches in Bethlehem, especially the Church of Nativity, against any aggression in reaction to the pope's statements," said Ahmad Al-Haddar, head of Palestinian police and security in the town. He said that "extra plainclothes policemen have been posted around all churches" in the city, where no disturbances were reported Sunday. In a speech in Germany on Tuesday, the pope spoke of a link between Islam and jihad, or "holy war", and quoted a 14th-century Byzantine emperor who said innovations introduced by the Prophet Mohammed were "evil and inhuman". His remarks have sparked a backlash throughout the Muslim world, including in the Palestinian territories where there is a minority Christian population. On Saturday, a group calling itself the Islamic Organization of the Swords of Righteousness claimed responsibility for unleashing a volley of gunfire at the oldest church in Gaza City, where a grenade had also exploded outside the building the day before. In the West Bank town of Nablus on the same day, gunmen lobbed Molotov cocktails at four churches of different denominations, Palestinian security sources told AFP. In one incident, gunmen also opened fire inside an empty Catholic church after the building's door had been burnt.
What did he hit on the head exactly? That it's the responsibility of Muslims to justify their religion to us because ignorant westerners don't understand that the actions of the vast minority are not indicative of the views of the vast majority? Or was it that whole brilliant hit squad take about how we should be killing Muslim religious leaders around the world that advocate violence?
Careful, I never said MUSLIM leaders, I said any leaders that are advocating violence to support their cause. Why would you think it is Muslim leaders, are they more prone to advocating violence? Is that part of their beliefs? Do you disagree with targeting people who misuse their power to coerce others to kill in the name of God, or Allah, or Buddha or Jupiter or Zeus? If they are going to cowardly hide and try to get others to spread violence, shouldn't they themselves be held accountable? DD PS. When I see that photo of the protestors I envision a bunch of brainwashed people, that don't have the information at hand which would allow them to think for themselves. It is a mob mentality gone wild.
The real Muslims in this world are scared to speak out against the terrorists that are abusing their religion and that is a fact! I have seen may Muslim reporters and authors that have actually been documenting this fact. Christian extremists in America may not use violence but they do subject non-believers with their influence on USA laws such as gay marriage and stem cell research which is just as threatening to America than violent terrorists in a sense. You also have to believe that if these influencers have a say in domestic policy they have to have some effect on foreign policy as well which is the main objection that foreign Muslims and others have with the US. Real Christians in America should have a problem with so called Christians influencing the government to exclude those Americans who do not share their beleifs. Real Muslims should deny terrorist propoganda and call for action without violence but set examples of compassion to demonstrate the positive morality of their faith. ONCE again Al Queda are just as much Islamic as Nazis were Christians. The only way toleration is going to transpire is if acts of compassion through foreign policy exemplifies that America helps out of morality and not to pursue resources. Sometimes I believe that the wealthy in this world are using religion and nationalism to distract people so they can take the people minds off of the injustices of economic realities, meanwhile they shape foreign policy and enslave people to make them more money. WHY AREN'T MUSLIMS and CHRISTIANS and every other religion helping people like in Darfur and New Orleans instead of debating which religion is true? Darfur offers no economic potential for any other country and that is why there is no extreme concern, the fact is America and the Middle East has a wide gap between the wealthy and the poor, and the less people fight against that injustice the more the wealthy can accumalate as the masses concern themselves with ancient questions that only their Gods could possibly answer. IF THE POPE IS AN INFIDEL IN THE FIRST PLACE WHY SHOULD IT MATTER WHAT HE SAYS and if MUSLIMS and EVERY OTHER RELGION BESIDES CATHOLICISM ARE FALSE AND ARE THE DEVILS TOOLS THEN WHY NOT CONDEMN ALL RELIGIONS (Christian dietys as well) and not just ONE IN PARTICULAR, for misleading people in violent as well as non violent ways. THE FACT IS NONE OF THESE RELIGIONS HELP PEOPLE OF THEIR SAME FAITH MUCH LESS OTHERS OF ANOTHER FAITH and should practice their religion and use their beautiful acts to convert people instead of FEAR.
Violent protests were carried out by more than just a few. And these violent protests can be traced back to statements of Muslim leaders who haven't even cared to read the speech, but welcomed the opportunity to fuel the fire and incite hate - instead of being open to a dialogue of religions.
Actually when you look at it in perspective the violence was only done by a few. When you have leaders of Hamas, and others denouncing the attacks, then it is evident that only the outer most fringe are supporting these kinds of things. Again protests even in anger do not equal violence. Only violence is violence.
