By Stan Goodenough
Sep 17, 2006
Pope Benedict XVI, head of the world?s 1.1 billion Roman Catholics, attempted Saturday to placate the fury of the world?s 1.2 billion Muslims after he purportedly offended them by reading from a 14th century book disclosing sordid truths about the teachings of ?the prophet? Mohammed.
The pope?s secretary of state said in a statement that Benedict?s position on Islam was unquestionably in line with the Vatican?s traditional teaching that Rome ?esteems Muslims, who adore the only God.?
Even this reassertion of a heresy ? that the LORD God of Israel and Allah, the Moon God of Arabia, are the same being ? was not enough to placate the latest fit of Islamic apoplexy.
It erupted after Benedict, referencing a recorded debate between a Byzantium emperor and a Persian scholar, said that when the emperor came to talk about the issue of jihad ?he said, I quote, ?Show me just what Mohammad 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.??
Although the pope was quoting from an obscure document, Muslims characteristically exploded in outrage in Arab and other Islamic states, protesting in the streets, firebombing churches, issuing fatwas and threatening to send ?suicide? bombers to attack the Vatican.
It is the second time in a year Islamic leaders identified and seized an opportunity to fuel their growing global jihad, the ultimate aim of which is the destruction of Judeo-Christian civilization and the forceful subjection of mankind to Allah.
In September 2005, after a Danish cartoon depicted the founder of Islam as a man of violence, riots and other forms of protest flared in Muslim communities worldwide, instigated by imams and other religious leaders,
This time again, fires of fury were ignited around the world.
In Israel, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh lashed out at Benedict for offending Muslims everywhere by his ?comments?about Islam as a faith [which] hide the truth and hurt its blessed essence.?
The arch terrorist, who has personally embraced violence as a means of subduing the enemies of Islam and ?Palestine,? appeared oblivious to the irony of his remarks. Like all who head up Muslim terror groups, the Hamas leader prides himself as a faithful follower of Mohammed?s teachings.
As he spoke, thousands of Palestinian Arabs marched to the buildings of the ?Palestinian parliament? to vent their rage. At least four churches in Samaria and one in Gaza were set ablaze.
The few Arab Christians in the overwhelmingly Muslim majority Palestinian Authority areas are believed to be in fear of personal attack.
Further afield, Turkey accused the pope of trying to ?revive the mentality of the Crusades.?
The Pakistani parliament condemned him and called the Vatican?s ambassador to Islamabad on the carpet.
The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood and a senior Muslim cleric in Lebanon demanded that Benedict make a personal and public apology to Muslims everywhere.
Morocco recalled its ambassador to the ?Holy See.?
Historically Muslims have, often successfully, forced those who worship Christ and those who make obeisance to Mary to retract remarks and statements deemed offensive to the followers of Mohammed.
High-profile evangelical leaders like Jerry Falwell have been coerced into apologizing for calling Mohammed a terrorist.
Notwithstanding the unwillingness of many western nations to defy politically correctness, by today?s definition ? and according to the criteria used by governments in various Judeo-Christian countries ? Mohammed, were he alive in the 21st century, would be labeled a terrorist, and states subscribing to his evil and inhuman teachings would be designated (as a few are) terror-supporting states and members of "the axis of evil."