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September 18, 2006
On 'An Open Letter To Pope Benedict XVI'
"Islam is a peaceful, accepting, tolerant, loving religion, and we will kill anyone who says differently." (Jay Tea via Capitalism Matters)From Ed Morrissey at Captain's Quarters, a letter to Pope Benedict that I, a fellow Roman Catholic, fully endorse:
To His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI:Continue reading...I went to church angry today for the first time in quite a while, perhaps since 9/11. We are called to humble ourselves when we worship God, and while I'm far from being the world's best example of Catholicism, I usually prepare myself by recalling my sins and my flaws before Mass begins -- not usually a difficult task, I'm afraid to say.
Unfortunately, today my anger got the best of me, and I struggled through an otherwise excellent service by our pastor.
Why should this be so? Before I went to Mass, I read about the senseless murder of Sister Leonella Sgorbati, who got shot three times by Islamists in Mogadishu, where she worked as a volunteer nurse to the Somalian poor. The shooting came in response to the outrage and violence that sprang from protests over your speech last week at the University of Regensburg. Christian Churches have been firebombed and taken gunfire, and we will probably see even greater escalations of violence until you meet their demands to withdraw your remarks about the irreligious nature of violent conversion.
I'm angry about the fact that a speech given by you has been manipulated by Muslims into rationales for their violence. I'm also angry because your apology this morning -- which at least did not extend to withdrawing your main point of the speech -- seems to give credence to their rationales.
In this, you appear to have withdrawn at least partially from your main point -- that the rejection of reason and dialogue amounts to a rejection of God, within whom reason and faith finally meet. You bravely attempted to open a Socratic dialogue with Muslims on this very point, inviting them to move away from violence and extortion in the spread of their faith and encouraging them to use rhetoric and reason to support their doctrines.
They answered you by murdering one of your flock, and if we're lucky, we'll only lose one.
If Islam is ever to peacefully co-exist with other faiths in the manner that Christendom finally learned how to do, then it has to start abiding questions and criticisms without resorting to violence. Islam has to learn to persuade and to attract people through reason, not through forced conversions and coexistence through violent supremacy. Muslim leaders around the world still believe that our faith can only exist at their sufferance, and any question of their doctrinal beliefs has to be met with violence or demands for apologies, not with rhetoric, facts, and reason.
Surely, as Ed points out in his letter, if Islam is ever to peacefully co-exist with other faiths in the manner that Christendom finally learned how to do, and at this point it is a very big "if", then it has to start abiding questions and criticisms without resorting to violence - and appeasement is no way to get there from here. While the political and non-Muslim religious leaders of the West continue to appease the Muslim extremists, hoping to diffuse or put off the undiffusable and inevitable total and absolute clash between modern civilization and the 14th Century world of radical Islam, most of the rest of us simply aren't buying into rolling over and waiting to get dead.
As John writes at Capitalism Matters, "This entire chain of events only serves to confirm the opinions many have developed regarding Islam." This while all hell is breaking loose, courtesy of perpetually and ready-state outraged Muslims:
Some in the Muslim world are warning that the Pope's speach may lead to war. A nun and her bodyguard have been gunned down by Islamists in Somalia. A Somali cleric has called for the assassination of the Pope. A Catholic Priest is missing in Iraq, apparently abducted. Meanwhile, the Pope apologizes, apologizes, and apologizes once again.
Borrowing from Captain Ed's piece, and in cutting to the chase: Muslim leaders around the world continue to believe that the faith of non-Muslims can only exist at the sufferance of Muslims, and any question of their doctrinal beliefs has to be met with violence or demands for apologies, not with rhetoric, facts, and reason. This cannot be allowed to continue and should not continue to be enabled through appeasement. We simply must demand that Muslims renounce violence and intimidation.
When one apologizes and retreats, Muslim extremists understand that as a triumph for their religion, a victory won with force and threats rather than through intellectual engagement. This encourages more of the same. The West had the opportunity to stand up to the same angry hordes earlier this year during the controversy over the Danish editorial cartoons that depicted Mohammed, and many of us gave into the threats and violence rather than stand up for the freedom of speech, religious practice, and editorial commentary. In both cases, Muslims ironically proved the point of the criticism leveled at them."
Meanwhile, back in the jungle that is radical Islam, Blue Crab Boulavard posts that Islamic terrorists are threatening to conquer Rome:
"We tell the worshipper of the cross (the Pope) that you and the West will be defeated, as is the case in Iraq, Afghanistan, Chechnya," said a Web statement by the Mujahideen Shura Council.The time has come to get over appeasing the animals and end this thing!"We shall break the cross and spill the wine ... God will (help) Muslims to conquer Rome ... (May) God enable us to slit their throats, and make their money and descendants the bounty of the mujahideen," said the statement, posted on Sunday on an Internet site often used by al Qaeda and other militant groups.
Posted by Richard at September 18, 2006 9:04 AM
