Pope Apologize?

I hope not.

Evidently Pope Benedict has offended Muslims by alleging that they used the sword to spread the Muslim faith. This goes against current attempts by Muslims to sanitize their history and to rewrite it.

That is not to say that Muslims and Christians should not ever apologize to each other. There have been many episodes in history warranting apology.

I am still waiting for an apology for Ground Zero. Then there are apolgies for celebrating American deaths. How about for chanting "Death to America"; "Death to the UK". How about apologies for all the bombs. How about personal apologies to the victims of September 11 and to the families of soldiers whose sons and daughters have died.

What did the Pope say that so enraged everyone?

Below is a quip from Yahoo:

The Pope on Tuesday repeated criticism of the Prophet Mohammad by the 14th century Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaeologus, who said everything Mohammad brought was evil "such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached."
The Pope, who used the terms "jihad" and "holy war" in his lecture, added "violence is incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul."

It seems to me that Truth is an absolute defense to what Islam purports to be slanderous. Now I think it may be too far to say that everything Mohammad brought was evil. However it is clear that Mohammed had little fear to use the sword when he needed it. Some of the Turks have taken offense to what the Pope said .

Now the Turks are a brave people. In the Korean War the Turks did not have one of their soldiers defect to the North Koreans; and believe me, when I say that they were the only country that did not have defections. Further the Turks are far and away the most advanced and enlightened Islamic country, in my opinion. And there are many good and fine Turkish people that I know personally. Nonetheless in the Topaki Palace is a museum with many wonderful relics of Mohammed. One is a letter written in his own hand to Christians which warns them that their death and blood and the death of their families will be on their own heads if they resisted Islam. I have seen it myself.

Further in Constantinople was the greatest Roman church in the Eastern Empire. It is called St. Sophia. When Islam took over the church was converted to a mosque and prior to that the Islamic conqueror rode his horse into the church. How many Christian churches are left in Islamic countries. Did people in those countries simply see the truth of Islam or was more involved.

So I guess if it is apologies people want, they need to get into line. It would seem that apologies these days are a one way street.

We all need to be more sensitive. But believe me there is nothing sensitive when people in the streets are yelling "Death to America" and then strapping bombs upon themselves.

HarleyDad