Posted on 09/24/2006 6:17:05 AM PDT by lizol
Barroso disappointed at lack of EU support for Pope
BERLIN (Reuters) - European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso was quoted as saying on Saturday that more European leaders should have spoken out in support of the Pope after he made controversial comments on Islam.
"I was disappointed there were not more European leaders who said 'naturally the Pope has the right to express his views'," Barroso was quoted as saying to the Welt am Sonntag newspaper.
"The problem is not the statements of the Pope but the reaction of the extremists," the paper quoted him as saying in a preview of an article to appear on Sunday.
Pope Benedict XVI has said his much-criticised speech in Regensburg, Germany earlier this month in which he quoted a 14th century Byzantine emperor as saying Islam was evil and violent, did not reflect his own thinking.
The speech by the leader of the world's 1.1 billion Roman Catholics has provoked al Qaeda groups to declare war on the Church, Iraqis to burn the Pope's effigy and Turks to petition for his arrest.
Barroso said the caution on the part of European leaders was probably due to "worries about a possible confrontation" as well as a "certain form of political correctness".
"We have to defend our values," he said. "We should also encourage the moderate leaders in the Muslim world -- and they're the majority -- to distance themselves from this extremism."
Most European countries have Islamified to the extent that "offending Islamofascists"--even calling Islamofascists by that name--effectively constitutes a grave felony if not a capital crime. Muslim street thugs typically exact such punishments as death, rape, or violent beating. Just ask that Dutch filmmaker--when you get to the afterlife.
And that's different from the US how?
The thing is: Newspapers in Germany, even France reprinted the Danish cartoons. Comedy Central censored South Park when they wanted to show a - totally harmless - image of Mohammed.
The United States lacks the enormous (10% or more) militant Muslim population that inhabits many European cities and (outside the press, the Democratic Party, and the blue states) the endemic, pervasive mental illness of liberalism that infests ethnic European society. American preachers can and do defend the Pope and regularly deliver an even stronger condemnation of Islamofascism and "that demon-possessed paedophile," the Prophet Muhammad--peace be upon him as demons torture him in the frozen pit of hell. Most Americans (excluding Democrats, the press, and other enemies of the United States within the country) attend church and see nothing wrong with the Papal remarks on Islam. With a few notable exceptions, mostly on talk radio, our press overwhelmingly stands on the European side of the great chasm between victory and appeasement.
Atending church is no sign for a broad christian livestyle. Among europeans the curch has not so much relevance in their daily lives but I see quite a bit more compliance to christian values in europe.
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