Just wondering about Pope's comments

[Harkoliar]

saying regards to scriptures wherein Muslim faith was spread by violence.

then 5 churches was bombed in Jerusalem. Dont you think its ironic?

[Memnoch]

This picture is ironic.

[johnny]

Angry muslims again ? [img]graemlins/rollsay.gif[/img]

[shamrock_uk]

Originally posted by Harkoliar: saying regards to scriptures wherein Muslim faith was spread by violence. then 5 churches was bombed in Jerusalem. Dont you think its ironic?

Indeed. And that picture is priceless.

However, assuming two people to each firebomb and adding one person who shot the nun in Somalia, that means that 11/1.4bn or 0.000000008% of Muslims decided to commit an act of violence in response to the Pope's speech.

Perspective needed.

[ 09-17-2006, 01:54 PM: Message edited by: shamrock_uk ]

[Memnoch]

I hear that in Patna in India protesters have called for a fatwa and death to the Pope.

Hopefully this fatwa will now be called off.

[Melchior]

I wrote this letter to a paper today:

----------------------
Regarding the Pope's remarks, what do Muslims expect the Pope to say?
"Muhammad was a great man, and Islam is right"?
Give me a break, he's the head of another religion, which effectively means doing his job is saying Muhammad was wrong, and working against Islam.

He's entitled to think Islam is evil, as from his perspective, it's adherants forcibly took swathes of land from the Orthodox and Catholic churches. Is he going to thanks them for that? Are Muslims ever going to hand the jewel of Orthodoxy, the Hagia Sofia, back to the Christian Church?

This is the problem with Islamic perception, in that simply rejecting Islam itself is an offense that insults the prophet. If you're following another religion, that in itself says Muhammad was wrong.

Thus we have a serious problem until Muslims can learn to accept criticism and rejection of that which they hold dear. In essence accepting a human's free will. You cannot force people to believe anything. Not even God does that.

Thanks

Melchior D'Orient

[ 09-17-2006, 02:59 PM: Message edited by: Melchior ]

[Melchior]

Originally posted by Memnoch: I hear that in Patna in India protesters have called for a fatwa and death to the Pope. Hopefully this fatwa will now be called off.

That's insanity.

[Memnoch]

Originally posted by Melchior: I wrote this letter to a paper today: ---------------------- Regarding the Pope's remarks, what do Muslims expect the Pope to say? "Muhammad was a great man, and Islam is right"? Give me a break, he's the head of another religion, which effectively means doing his job is saying Muhammad was wrong, and working against Islam. He's entitled to think Islam is evil, as from his perspective, it's adherants forcibly took swathes of land from the Orthodox and Catholic churches. Is he going to thanks them for that? Are Muslims ever going to hand the jewel of Orthodoxy, the Hagia Sofia, back to the Christian Church? This is the problem with Islamic perception, in that simply rejecting Islam itself is an offense that insults the prophet. If you're following another religion, that in itself says Muhammad was wrong. Thus we have a serious problem until Muslims can learn to accept criticism and rejection of that which they hold dear. In essence accepting a human's free will. You cannot force people to believe anything. Not even God does that. Thanks Melchior D'Orient

I disagree about Islam being evil, but from what I've seen the Muslim world appears to be extremely intolerant - say anything remotely critical of Islam and you will get a very strong, sometimes violent, response, with effigies being burned, etc. Now I've had discussions with good Muslim friends of mine and I know that not all Muslims think like this, but unfortunately it almost seems as though tolerant Muslims appear to be the minority (or they are keeping silent). Criticising Islam has become unwise because some Muslims seem to think that criticism of the religion has to be met with a violent response.

Catholics will protest when their religion is slighted, but these protests will more often than not be peaceful, and then they'll move on. The exception was the conflict in Northern Ireland, which has died down since the IRA agreed to disarm. Think of the Da Vinci Code where it was alleged that Jesus, the Christian Messiah, had sexual relations with Mary Magdalene. Nobody torched Dan Brown's house, the Vatican didn't excommunicate him or call for his killing (a la Salman Rushdie) or anything like that. They were unhappy, they voiced their unhappiness, and that was it.

1000 years ago the roles were reversed - the Muslim world was enlightened, educated and tolerant, they allowed all faiths to worship in Jerusalem, and believed in dialogue. On the other hand the Catholics of Western Europe (including the Papacy) were brutal, uncivilised barbarians who only knew violence as a means to get their point across. In 1000 years the roles (or perception) seem to have been reversed.

It's getting hard to discuss this without getting in depth about Islam, which will probably violate our moratorium, so I'll stick to the current affairs aspect of it.

To me, education is the key. And something needs to be done about some of those fanatical mullahs preaching hate and violence. They're the ones taking advantage of these angry young Muslims.

[ 09-17-2006, 03:22 PM: Message edited by: Memnoch ]

[Harkoliar]

Originally posted by shamrock_uk: quote: Originally posted by Harkoliar: saying regards to scriptures wherein Muslim faith was spread by violence. then 5 churches was bombed in Jerusalem. Dont you think its ironic?

Indeed. And that picture is priceless.

However, assuming two people to each firebomb and adding one person who shot the nun in Somalia, that means that 11/1.4bn or 0.000000008% of Muslims decided to commit an act of violence in response to the Pope's speech.

Perspective needed. [/QUOTE]But when entire govt wish to do just that.. i mean they are the leaders already.

[Luvian]

Originally posted by Memnoch: 1000 years ago the roles were reversed - the Muslim world was enlightened, educated and tolerant, they allowed all faiths to worship in Jerusalem, and believed in dialogue. On the other hand the Catholics of Western Europe (including the Papacy) were brutal, uncivilised barbarians who only knew violence as a means to get their point across. In 1000 years the roles (or perception) seem to have been reversed.

Maybe that's it. It's all an elaborate payback ploy by making us feel what they were feeling like back then.

But seriously, how could they turn around so much in attitude?