Pope Should Not Have Apologized

"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," Benedict quoted passage that dated back to the Middle-Ages.

This is the quote that started the latest and predictable outrage among some Muslims.

It also led to some letters to the Montreal Gazette from readers who condemn the reactions and feel that the Pope had nothing to apologize for. I tend to stand on this side of the debate. Others, however, had a different perspective.

One person wrote, "The isolated acts of vandalism against churches in the East Bank by a few hotheads are inexcusable, but they should not be used to diminish the legitimate outrage of Muslims over the use by the pope of a quote demonizing Islam. In spite of Vatican pleas that the words were taken out of context, just imagine the chorus of indignation by the Jewish community had the pop uncritically included a quote that called Judaism evil and inhuman."

Fair enough. But a tad unfair. It WAS taken out of context. Perhaps he should have considered it harder before saying it given the global context of the world. This, however, is not the point of this post. Rather, a couple of his assertions piqued this commentators precious dark brown eyes.

So he feels the burning of the Pope in effigy a justified reaction? Or how about Al-Queda's words, "We shall break the cross and spill the wine. ... God will (help) Muslims to conquer Rome. ... God enable us to slit their throats, and make their money and descendants the bounty of the mujahideen." Rome? Are you kidding me? Who talks about Rome like this? Is this a normal religious logic to live by? If anything, it proves that Islam simply has fallen prey to violent and irrational responses to any perceptions of threat. What kind of moral outlook is this? The fact remains that the reaction remains grossly disproportionate relative to the action. In fact, I am sure the great majority of Muslims - though possibly not agreeing with the Pope - simply do not share the views or stupid actions of the protestors.

Would the writer of this letter feel it was a justified had Muslims rampaged on his street? Of course, what's a debate without invoking the Jews? Last I checked, the Jews have been at the center of verbal and physical attacks for thousands of years. Yet, I have yet to see them rampage on streets vanadalizing Churches or Mosques. They're out earning a living or writing jokes.

Did the Pope issue a Christian version of a fatwa? Did he tell Christians to go and 'cut the throats' of his or her Muslim neighbour? Even if he did, our civilization is not sick enough to the point of listening to gibberish.

It's become a passtime for some Muslims to cast dispersions upon Western, Christian and Jewish culture. One need only to peruse the various academic sites such as MEMRI to observe that this sort of thing is not isolated but a daily occurrence. Should an apology be forthcoming to Christians?* How did things become so one-sided?

*Somehow I doubt it's even an issue for us Seculartarians. Hell, er, heaven knows how belittling Christianity is open game. Duck season! Rabbit season!