Pope Disappoints Muslim Leaders
AFP: AMMAN — Pope Benedict XVI urged inter-faith reconciliation on the second day of a Holy Land tour but disappointed Muslim clerics by failing to offer a new apology for remarks seen as targeting Islam.

The pontiff in a keynote address to Muslim leaders in Amman's huge Al-Hussein Mosque bemoaned "ideological manipulation of religion" and urged Muslims and Christians to unite as "worshippers of God."

"Certainly, the contradiction of tensions and divisions between the followers of different religious traditions, sadly, cannot be denied," the leader of the world's 1.1 billion Catholics told his audience.

"However, is it not also the case that often it is the ideological manipulation of religion, sometimes for political ends, that is the real catalyst for tension and division, and at times even violence in society?"

Some clerics expressed disappointment however that the pontiff in his wide-ranging speech had made no new apology for a 2006 address in which he quoted a medieval Christian emperor who criticised some teachings of the Prophet Mohammed as "evil and inhuman." >>> Copyright © 2009 AFP | Saturday, May 9, 2009

Queen Rania of Jordan Talking Baloney
Photo courtesy of ABC News
Queen Rania of Jordan believes that recent remarks by Pope Benedict XVI underscore the prejudice many people feel worldwide against the poor, downtrodden Muslims. She says that the West misunderstands Islam.

No, Your Royal Highness, Westerners don't misunderstand Islam at all. I think they are beginning - though it has taken some time, I have to admit - to get to grips with the totalitarian nature of the world's most belligerent, most narrow-minded, most irrational, most dangerous religion.

You say that your religion should not be judged by some of its misguided and extreme followers. Then what other yardstick can Westerners use, Your Royal Highness? How would you feel if your children were threatened by the sword, if your children were the target of Muslim violence, if your family members were disallowed from converting out of the faith?

Yes, there will always be extreme elements in any religion. But isn't it funny that Islam fosters more than its fair share of extremists? Don't you think there is a simple reason for this? You say that Americans say that they will never understand Islam, and add that Muslims say that they will never understand the West. So be it! Let the two worlds, for the sake of peace, live their lives separately! Why do the two worlds have to be thrown together like this? Most sane Westerners don't want Muslims in their midst because of all the problems they cause them; most Muslims, seemingly, also don't want Westerners in their midst because they cannot understand them, and feel that Westerners are polluting their Islamic purity. Okay, as I stated in my book, The Dawning of a New Dark Age, let an "Iron Veil" drop between the two worlds. That's the best way forward, that's the best way to ensure a peaceful world.

These two worlds are definitely not compatible. Westerners don't want your way of life here in the West; and you don't want the way of life of Westerners in the Islamic world. Let the two worlds, then, live separate lives. After all, this is what happens when a husband and wife cannot get along. They divorce. Though, it has to be said, that divorce can be amicable: There can be some co-operation.

Westerners do not like to see veiled women walking around the streets, nor do they do like to see bearded men in long robes walking around the streets, either. They do not like the ways of Muslims. If allowed to stay here, they would want them to assimilate, and live like them. But they will not. It's an article of your intemperate faith that they shouldn't, isn't it?

It is plain to see that Islam harbours desires to take over and Islamize the world. Westerners don't want your religion. They prefer the system they have, and the lifestyle and liberty and democracy it offers. Muslims believe that their religion is superior to Christianity; Westerners believe that their religion is superior to yours. There you have it! Right from the heart of Christendom! - ©Mark

ABC NEWS: Sept. 21, 2006 — Jordan's Queen Rania Al-Abdullah believes that Muslims have been victims of stereotypes and that Pope Benedict XVI's recent comments about Islam underscore the prejudice many feel worldwide.

In a Sept. 12 address at the University of Regensburg in Germany, Benedict cited the words of a Byzantine emperor who characterized some of the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad as "evil and inhuman," particularly "his command to spread by the sword the faith."

The pope said Wednesday he did not mean to malign Islam when he quoted the emperor, but did not issue a direct apology.

Some Muslim leaders who were offended by his remarks still want a apology from Benedict.

Rania, the world's youngest queen, said she believed that the pope's comments and the reaction they sparked reflected an ongoing misunderstanding of Islam and Muslims. Jordan's Queen: Pope Controversy Reflects Prejudice Against Islam: Rania Says Controversy Indicative of Worldwide Misunderstanding of Islam

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Stinging Bees
Ubi mel, ibi apes - Plautus
Western editors and journalists need rub their eyes in disbelief no longer. Mullahs, imams, ‘Islamists’, and those always too ready to demonstrate need waste no more energy protesting the ‘painful’ words of the ‘insensitive’ Pope. The lecture is there for all to read, in English, and in the original German. It is benign stuff indeed! Moreover, it is very erudite, and way beyond the ability of the average man in the street to comprehend.

This Pope is perhaps the most learned of popes. In so many ways he is an exalted pope, one who needs no lessons from anyone in how to conduct papal affairs, much less from the media, who love to sensationalize everything they learn of to bolster their ever-dwindling sales.

As the Neue Zürcher Zeitung so correctly stated, his words were “intelligent and necessary”. Indeed! Sadly, yet again, what was said was taken out of context. He used the following quotation from a Byzantine emperor, Manuel II Palaeologos, from the year 1391 …

"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."

(“Zeig mir doch, was Mohammed Neues gebracht hat und da wirst du nur Schlechtes und Inhumanes finden wie dies, dass er vorgeschrieben hat, den Glauben, den er predigte, durch das Schwert zu verbreiten.”)

… and the whole world breaks out in a frenzy. How absurd!

The Vatican has stated that the actual text of Benedict XVI should be made known in the Islamic world, in full. It wants the text to be explained and elucidated, for the Vatican believes that it has been the victim of much manipulation of the text, so that its true meaning has been changed and distorted.

The Vatican wants dialogue with the Islamic world, but believes that meaningful ‘interfaith dialogue’ can only come about when the violence has stopped. The Pope, rightly, says that God abhors violence, from wherever it comes. Who can argue with that?

It is always helpful to read the text of such an important message in its original language. These things always lose something in the translation. A text as scholarly as this one is prone to lose even more when translated.

It is doubtful that many working in the Western press would have the ability to read, much less to appreciate the meaning and beauty of, the Pope’s address at the University of Regensburg. Even if some were able to read it in its original form, it is highly unlikely that they bothered to read the whole text before reporting on how ‘insensitive’ the Pope had been. Such are the ways of the press.

Instead of criticizing the Pope, I would suggest that people working in the media need to ask themselves some important questions about their readiness to blurt out, and publish abroad, statements out of context. The press should have integrity, especially over such sensitive issues.

We all know how ready the Islamic world is to pick up on anything they perceive to be insulting to their prophet or religion. The Islamic world is like a tinderbox waiting for a match to be struck.

One should bear in mind, of course, that this Pope is not the darling of the liberal press anyway; so they are only waiting to pick up on something to get him into the quagmire. Why? It’s simple! He is against many of the issues the PC apostles espouse: He is against gay marriage, against the ordination of women, against relativism, against the use of condoms even to prevent AIDS, and against Turkey’s entry into the European Union. He is also anti-abortion. Briefly put: He is not liberal.

His grasp and understanding of the teachings of Christianity are profound; indeed, his understanding, naturally, surpasses the understanding of lesser mortals. And that’s how it should be, of course. Furthermore, he sets an extremely high standard in matters of morality. And so he should. After all, how could we hold in high esteem a pope that gave free rein to all that liberals hold dear? Liberals wish to change the very nature of Christianity itself. Aren’t many of these people going to abandon the Church, anyway, once they have achieved their aims?

This Pope has gone further than any previous pope in apologizing for ‘hurting the sensitivities’ of Muslims worldwide; yet many still feel he has not gone far enough. One can only shake one’s head in disbelief! I ask you one simple question: When are Muslims going to apologize to the people of the West for all their violence and beheadings and insults? When are they going to apologize for 9/11? For Madrid? For the London bombings? For Bali? Why don’t we demand of them what they incessantly demand of us? Why should there be this double standard? Do you, for example, like being referred to as an infidel (kafir)? That word alone should send shivers down the spine of any devout Christian. The meaning of the word kafir is actually not simply that one is not one of the faithful. In Arabic, that word has all kinds of pejorative connotations, connotations of uncleanness and inferiority. I, for one, take exception to these people referring to Westerners as inferior. Such arrogance! Such self-importance! And such stupidity!

They think this, of course, because they believe that they are Allah’s chosen people. They believe that anyone that has not yet embraced Islam is living in a backward state of jahiliyyah, the wretched, dystopian, chaotic, pre-Islamic state. Funny, isn’t it, that God has chosen the West to be so much more advanced?

Karen Armstrong, in today’s Guardian (see below), was very critical of the Pope. In an article entitled, We cannot afford to maintain these ancient prejudices against Islam, she surely misunderstood the Pope’s message! She wrote: ”He has, most unfortunately, withdrawn from the interfaith initiatives inaugurated by his predecessor, John Paul II, at a time when they are more desperately needed than ever. Coming on the heels of the Danish cartoon crisis, his remarks were extremely dangerous. They will convince more Muslims that the west is incurably Islamophobic and engaged in a new crusade.”

No, no, no, Ms Armstrong! He hasn’t withdrawn from interfaith dialogue at all! What he has done is try to point out that for there to be meaningful dialogue, the violence has to stop. He is trying to pull the zealots up higher. No moderate, reasonable Muslim can object to that; and after all is said and done, it is with reasonable Muslims that any meaningful ‘interfaith dialogue’ can take place.

The fact of the matter is that everybody has climbed onto the bandwagon. Both non-Muslims and Muslims alike have taken one ancient quotation out of context in the hope of ridiculing this wonderful Pope. Fortunately, and as one would expect, he has responded intelligently, serenely, and with dignity.

Unfortunately, where there is honey, there are bees. Bees sting! If the Pope is guilty of anything, he is guilty of forgetting that.

©Mark Alexander

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