Posted on 09/21/2006 2:20:42 PM PDT by wagglebee
About 1,000 Muslim clerics and religious scholars meeting Thursday in eastern Pakistan demanded the removal of Pope Benedict XVI for making what they called "insulting remarks" against Islam.
Benedict "should be removed from his position immediately for encouraging war and fanning hostility between various faiths" and "making insulting remarks" against Islam, said a joint statement issued by the clerics and scholars at the end of their one-day convention.
The "pope, and all infidels, should know that no Muslim, under any circumstances, can tolerate an insult to the Prophet (Muhammad). ... If the West does not change its stance regarding Islam, it will face severe consequences," it said.
The meeting was organized by the radical Islamic group Jamaat al-Dawat, which runs schools, colleges and medical clinics. In April, Washington put the group on a list of terrorist organizations for its alleged links with militants fighting in the Indian part of Kashmir.
The meeting came after the pope said Sunday he was "deeply sorry" about the reactions to his remarks and that they did not reflect his own opinions.
He said Wednesday that he has "deep respect" for Islam, but he did not offer an apology that was demanded by some Muslim leaders offended by his remarks in Germany last week.
The pope acknowledged that his remarks were open to misinterpretation, but insisted he had not intended to endorse a negative view of Islam.
In Germany, Benedict cited the words of a Byzantine emperor who characterized some of the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad as "evil and inhuman," particularly "his command to spread by the sword the faith."
"This quote unfortunately lent itself to be misunderstood," the pontiff said Wednesday. "In no way did I wish to make my own the words of the medieval emperor. I wished to explain that not religion and violence, but religion and reason go together."
The clerics and religious scholars said they did not regard Benedict's latest comments as an apology.
"The pope has neither accepted his mistake, nor apologized for his words," it said.
The statement also said jihad was not terrorism and that "Islam was not propagated with the sword, but it became popular and was accepted by the oppressed peoples of the world because of its universal values and teachings."
"Jihad is waged to rid an area, state, or the world of oppression, violence, cruelty, and terrorism, and bring peace and relief to the people. History is full of incidents where Muslims waged jihad to provide relief to people of many faiths, especially Jews and Christians," it said.
Pakistan is the world's second most populous Muslim country, and its people have held small, peaceful rallies since the publication of pope's remarks about Islam.
I guess beheading Christians and Jews does bring them peace in a way, but it isn't the method most Christians and Jews would select I don't think!
Correction .... your flearidden decendants will learn of me.......
"You are an infidel. You must be absorbed!"
Damn, another targeting opportunity missed!
Oh, I want to go to war with them. I'd like to see a Crusade against all muslim countries to free the Christians who are forced to live in terror within their boundaries. "Kill them all, the Lord will know His own!" Abbot of Citeaux
No, they would just then understand that they had no say or sway in the matter.
Maybe we should bring back crucifiction as a punishment for muslims who rate the death penalty .... just to add a little insult to injury.
I wonder .... would the Catholics and their nations truly go to war with Islam if the Pope was murdered by islamic terrorists?
damn..you're right!
Why can't we insult the Prophet Muhamed? In a free society everything is insulted including men, women, McDonalds, religion, atheism, Presidents, football, sex, cell phones....everything is insulted.
This is called free speech and it leads to open debate, discussion, good jokes, and ultimately an orderly society. Most rhetoric gets forgotten. However some of the buzz turns in to true politcal discourse. Ultimately, elections judge the validity of the topics of the day. If your position is a loser in the publics eye, it's not the publics fault. It's you and your positions fault.
This is the way most people want to live and live.....It's called freedom. So, if your prophet can't withstand a little bit of insult, perhaps you need a new prophet or a new argumentative technique. More violence is what you need less of. You see, the violence you choose in the place of reasoned discourse only weakens your argument in the eyes of intelligent and thoughtful people.
Green Berets will take care of their followers....
The Muslims and the Communists make the same claim. What puts the lie to it is that when you look at the world, it is clear that the major causes of poverty, death and disease are Islam and Marxism.
Pakistan demanded the removal of Pope Benedict XVI for making what they called "insulting remarks" against Islam. Benedict "should be removed from his position immediately for encouraging war and fanning hostility between various faiths" and "making insulting remarks" against Islam,
United States demans the removal of Muhammed for making "insulting remarks" against Christianity. Muhammed "should be removed from his position immediately for encouraging war and fanning hostility between various faiths" and "making insulting remarks" against anything NOT ilamofacist.
Which one fits best?
How can you do anything to further insult Islam - the "religion" and its prophet are a joke.
Muhammad is burning in an especially vile part of hell along with the likes of Hitler and Stalin.
Sorry, fellows you don't get to vote for or against the Pope you are not even Catholics. Maybe you would like to convert to Catholicism? Do you prefer the sword or water baptism?
Even if you ARE Catholic, your chances of ever "voting for a Pope" are essentially zero. As far as removal of a Pope against his will, I don't even know what Canon Law states (if anything), but it would almost certainly have to be on the order of extreme heresy or blasphemy.
There are no truly "Catholic nations" left in the world, except for the Philippines; but even they are being tested and terrorized by islam. Still, there over one billion Catholics in the world who would be very angry if the jihadists murdered, (or even harmed) the Pope. I don't think the world's Protestants would remain calm after such an assasination either. Such an abominable act of pure, vile hatred by islam would symbolize to Christians all over the world what would be awaiting the rest of us if we failed to respond with massive force. I would venture to say that if the Pope were to be assassinated by a radical muslim, in the name of jihad, that would likely set off an explosive chain of events around the world that would make the islamic barbarians wish they were never born. In other words, WWIII would be unleashed.
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