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September 19, 2006

Australian PM Tells Pope-Enraged Muslims to "Move On"

...Mr Howard sought to make a distinction between the Christian and Islamic faiths. A "common thread" in modern terror attacks was that their perpetrators "claim the authority of Allah". ... "I don't at the moment note groups killing people and invoking the authority of the Catholic Church. That's the difference," he said. "If Catholics rioted every time people attacked the Catholic Church, you would have riots on a very regular basis. (John Howard, Australian PM)

[...] MUSLIMS are "perfectly entitled" to criticise the Pope for linking Islam with evil and violence, but John Howard wants them to "move on".

The Prime Minister said last night he was "disappointed" and "exasperated" that "whenever the Pope says something (it) provokes demonstrations".

In defence of comments yesterday by the Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, George Pell, Mr Howard said Cardinal Pell "has a point" in criticising Muslims for reacting to the Pope's comments with "demonstrations and threats of violence".

"It's a strange form of restraint to respond to words of disagreement with demonstrations and threats of violence," he said.

But Australia's Islamic leader, Sheik Taj Din al-Hilali, dismissed comments by his Catholic counterpart linking Islam and violence as a "cheap shot".

Sheik Hilali said Cardinal Pell's statements were "unnecessary from a man of such religious standing. We have declared our position repeatedly - we condemn terrorism and we continue to condemn terrorism."

... Mr Howard sought to make a distinction between the Christian and Islamic faiths. A "common thread" in modern terror attacks was that their perpetrators "claim the authority of Allah".

... "I don't at the moment note groups killing people and invoking the authority of the Catholic Church. That's the difference," he said. "If Catholics rioted every time people attacked the Catholic Church, you would have riots on a very regular basis.

... "He's expressed his regrets and I think we should all move on."

... Mr Howard was supported by NSW Premier Morris Iemma, who said Cardinal Pell was justified in making comments about extremists.

... "In enlisting the support of the leadership of a community and moderates in that community to rein in extremists, I think that that's an obligation on all," Mr Iemma said.

... "I understand they were general comments about extremists within the community both here and overseas, and reining them in, and in that I support the moderates in the community in asserting a leadership role.

... "The problem we have at the moment is that the common thread of all of these terrorist attacks is the terrorists claim the authority of Allah."

Related:
Australia: Muslims Mad Because They Have to be Civil - Australia officials have told Muslims there that they are expected to act civilly, like everyone else in that country. ... Muslims are angry with that. They protest. They are being singled out to behave and they don't like that one bit. (ed: Go figure! Imagine the gall of the Australian officials, expecting Muslims to behave civily, like everyone else in the country.)

Posted by Richard at September 19, 2006 3:27 PM