Posted on 03/25/2013 9:08:05 AM PDT by Brian Kopp DPM
Magdi Cristiano Allam, an Egyptian-born Muslim whom Pope Benedict publicly baptised at Easter five years ago in St Peter's Basilica has announced that he is leaving the Church because it has taken too soft a stand against Islam.
"My conversion to Catholicism, which came at the hands of Benedict XVI during the Easter Vigil on 22 March 2008, I now consider finished in combination with the end of his pontificate," Mr Allam wrote on Monday in the right-wing Milan daily, Il Giornale.
The 61-year-old journalist and right-wing politician has long been an Italian citizen. He said he had pondered his decision to leave the Church for some time. However, he affirmed that the "last straw" was the election of Pope Francis, which he said was proof that the Church is "troppo buonista" - excessively tolerant.
"The 'papolatry' that has inflamed the euphoria for Francis I and has quickly archived Benedict XVI was the last straw in an overall framework of uncertainty and doubts about the Church," he wrote.
"The thing that drove me away from the Church more than any other factor was religious relativism, in particular the legitimisation of Islam as a true religion," he said. Mr Allam said Islam was "an intrinsically violent ideology" that had to be courageously opposed as "incompatible with our civilisation and fundamental human rights". "I am more convinced than ever that Europe will end up being subjugated to Islam just like what happened beginning in the seventh century on the other side of the Mediterranean," he warned.
The journalist's baptism in St Peter's Basilica was a highly guarded secret until the day it occurred. Mr Allam said Archbishop Rino Fisichella, head of the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelisation, "personally accompanied" him to accept and be instructed in the Catholic faith. His godfather and confirmation sponsor was Maurizio Lupi, a high-ranking member of the Forza Italia party founded by former Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi.
I’m not disgusted or morale-busted if someone lies to me, I just chalk it up as human nature.
We don’t appear to be de-motivated, do we?
Our discussions aren’t stopped, and we’re just a drop in time compared to how many other discussions like this have taken place.
No, it’s a belief. I could be completely wrong...or right...or somewhere in-between.
Do you think there is a difference between absolute truths and absolute moral truth?
It doesn’t matter to me whether my beliefs can be proven or not, as they are mine. Like I said, I don’t believe in absolute moral truths for everyone, so it really doesn’t matter if it can be proven or not.
I wonder if it depends on whether the subject of the lie sasimportant to you or not. I know people who would accept a lie from their wife but not from their broker.
"We don’t appear to be de-motivated, do we?"
If I am included in that "we," the answer is yes. I am highly de-motivated to discuss things with people who are in the "almost empty" end of gauge of good will or good sense.
(This is not written with you in mind, stuartcr.)
I imagine you’re correct on the first one. I guess I’ve just been lucky when it comes to people lying to me.
What does your religion teach about those who totally reject the necessity or authority of your religion but go straight to Jesus for their salvation???
“No, it’s a belief. I could be completely wrong...or right...or somewhere in-between.”
“Everything I have said and done is these last years is relativism, by intuition. From the fact that all ideologies are of equal value, that all ideologies are mere fictions, the modern relativist infers that everybody has the right to create for himself his own ideology, and to attempt to enforce it with all the energy of which he is capable. If relativism signifies contempt for fixed categories, and men who claim to be the bearers of an objective immortal truth, then there is nothing more relativistic than fascism.” — Benito Mussolini
Have you ever read - The Socialist Phenomenon by Igor Shavfarevich?
Section 1: Intro, Greece, Heresies
Section 2: European Utopianism
Section 3: Totalitarianism in History
http://www.savageleft.com/poli/tsp1.html
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