Was the Pope correct to criticise Islam this week?

Question

The Pope used the following quote - everything Mohammad brought was evil and inhuman, "such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached".

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/15092006/325/pope-sparks-muslim-anger.html

Answer 1

I hardly see that he had any choice. After all, it's a case of "my book is right and yours is wrong", and to be honest, they can't both be right as they contradict each other in so many places.

re spreading the faith by the sword, read your history books - the armies of the emirs swept across north africa and spain only allowing people to survive if thay converted on the spot. And that, was the command of Mohommed being put into practice.
I suspect that most people feel that they should be allowed to practice their own faith (or none) as they wish. At present, every religion insists that it, and only it, is the truth. They can't all be right and maybe none of them is right. with that level of uncertainty, why should anybody pressurise anybody else. The worst exponents of this form of threat are, as usual, the least educated of the mob - the "Hoi-Polloi" or the "plebs". A subset of society which has so little education that they cannot justifiably be expected to understand anything for themselves and who blindly follow any leader (bleat, bleat, bleat), whether good and just or an inhuman tyrant (look at Hitler for example. Plenty of the populace followed him - to eventual destruction).
Maybe the mohommedans should just leave other social groups alone. They're welcome to believe whatever they want but not to inflict it on others, The same goes for all other religious groups of course.

Answer 2

Don’t you see the irony in Muslims being able to desecrate a Christian Temple in Jerusalem by spreading feces on images of Christ? But a Christian leader (the Pope) can’t remind people of what 14th century Byzantine emperor Manuel Paleolous II said about the profit Mohammad several hundred years ago. It wasn’t even the Popes own words or thought. He was repeating what Paleolous II supposedly said. . What’s with the hypersensitivity anyway? The Muslims can dance in the streets; shout and yell; raise their fists all they want to but I do not believe the Pope owes Muslims an apology for anything. Some have contended the terrorists are a form of radical Islam and a small minority of the faith. They say the large majority of Muslims are a peaceful people. I am beginning to wonder about these claims when I see the reported millions in the streets protesting what the Pope repeated. Two faced or what? Is Islam a peaceful religion or a violence based religion? By what I am seeing and hearing, I would have to conclude the latter.

Answer 3

Wow... that is actually a departure from the sort of ecumenicalism seen from John Paul II.

There's no doubt this is unusually strong language. Yet it seems Christianity has also sustained just these kinds of attacks in our time. His statement may actually be true, but whether this is the best way to broach the problem is a matter up for debate.

Still, I think Christians have an advantage in that wherever such things like the inquisition occured, we can easily demonstrate that such actions are a departure from ( and not a logical outworking of) the very teaching and person of Christ. Such acts would constitute violations of his life and character, and not an emulation of it. I don't know how anyone would want to argue against that, but we do have in the words of Mohammed, Islam's central figure that one must do violence to non-believers.

Is not Islam, then, a much more worthy candidate for this kind of criticism?

Answer 4

This so called Pope doesn't even come close the Pope John Paul the II.
Rather than give speeches on a faith he knows nothing about he needs to deal with the disgraceful paedophilia that has infested the priests of his own faith,but then again he would not do that would he ?

Answer 5

So what was the Roman Catholic Inquisition? Persecuting any-one who did not except R. Catholicism. They threatened to torture Galileo for saying the Earth orbited the Sun, as opposed to the Sun orbiting the Earth as they believed. They were implicated in the murder of their God, Christ. They brought Europe into the 'dark ages' by suppressing truth and facts. They advocated the enslavement of millions of people on this planet. The whole 'christian' thing is a cover for their real motive, which is satanic worship. The bread and wine symbolise human sacrifice and cannibalism. And there is more....

Answer 6

It shows how ignorant the pope really is. i didn't pay much attention to him before, but now i see he does not know much, especially the basics of Islam. Pope John Paul II was a much greater pope. He would never make such blunders.

Answer 7

No it was not correct. The pope was placing such criticism under the influence of his own religion. What he neglected to state is that Christianity is just as capable as Islam in doing evil actions.

Answer 8

This was a very stupid thing to do attack another religion. Especially with all of the hell and damnation that was done in the name of christianity. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone. When you descredit the moral foundations with which people live by you unravel the pillars of a civilized society. He may live to regret that stupid statement. More than a billion people on earth practice Islam and many nations (including America). Why is mankind so evil? Is this man trying to set the stage for an east/ west war? He must be insane! Today you can be at odds with your next door neighbors!

Answer 9

No. It's not smart for religions to critisize each other. That's how all the crap gets started. Unfortunately, the Pope has many followers so it's probably going to get ugly.

Answer 10

Yes