Our World

Muslim Reaction to Pope

I know I'm a little behind the times with this one, but I knew right away when I heard this story that I wanted to do a post on it. In case anyone hasn't heard about it yet, I'll summarize on what happend.

Pope Benedict XVI upset many people with a speech he gave a week ago. He referred to jihad, or holy war, and quoted a 14th century Emperor when he said, "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." This remark towards Islam caused many Muslims around the world to respond. Immediately they began gathering for protests -almost 1,000 protesters gathered in Basra, Iraq and burned effigies of the Pope trying to send messages that they were offended by the Pope's words.

On Sunday, the Pope attempted to apologize by saying he was "deeply sorry" for the reaction caused by his comments. He also said those words were "quotations from a medieval text, which do not in any way express my personal thought." This, however, did not please Muslim groups. They continued to attack churches in Palestine and eventually an Italian nun and her body gaurd were killed at a children's hospital in Somalia.

Muslims still are not satisfied with the Pope's apology. They do not think it was sufficient, and an al Qaeda linked militant group has vowed war against the Pope's followers. An internet statement by a branch of Iraq's al Qaeda said, "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."

This article both upset me, but also made me shake my head. The Muslims were angry when they were generalized as being violent and 'spreading their faith by the sword', yet their reaction to being offended is more violence. Their actions enforce the Pope's words even more. Basically they are proving the quotation to be true. Their religion is challenged, and they respond by killing at least two people if not more, not to mention destroying or causing damage to many churches. What does that make you think about Islam? If they do not want to be accused of being violent, maybe they need to change their actions. It will be hard for people's ideas and stereotypes of Muslims to change if the Muslims themselves do not follow the ways they want to be seen.

posted by Anonymous @ 9/19/2006 10:21:00 PM