Do you think Pope Benedict XVI is working for George W. Bush!?

Question

For many centuries, the Muslims ruled Greece. Did the Greeks become Muslims? Did anyone even try to Islamize them? On the contrary, Christian Greeks held the highest positions in the Ottoman administration. The Bulgarians, Serbs, Romanians, Hungarians and other European nations lived at one time or another under Ottoman rule and clung to their Christian faith. Nobody compelled them to become Muslims and all of them remained devoutly Christian.

In 1099, the Crusaders conquered Jerusalem and massacred its Muslim and Jewish inhabitants indiscriminately, in the name of the gentle Jesus. At that time, 400 years into the occupation of Palestine by the Muslims, Christians were still the majority in the country. Throughout this long period, no effort was made to impose Islam on them. Only after the expulsion of the Crusaders from the country, did the majority of the inhabitants start to adopt the Arabic language and the Muslim faith - and they were the forefathers of most of today's Palesti

What happened afterwards is even more telling. When the Catholics reconquered Spain from the Muslims, they instituted a reign of religious terror. The Jews and the Muslims were presented with a cruel choice: to become Christians, to be massacred or to leave. And where did the hundreds of thousand of Jews, who refused to abandon their faith, escape? Almost all of them were received with open arms in the Muslim countries. The Sephardi ("Spanish") Jews settled all over the Muslim world, from Morocco in the west to Iraq in the east, from Bulgaria (then part of the Ottoman Empire) in the north to Sudan in the south. Nowhere were they persecuted. They knew nothing like the tortures of the Inquisition, the flames of the auto-da-fe, the pogroms, the terrible mass-expulsions that took place in almost all Christian countries, up to the Holocaust.

Why? Because Islam expressly prohibited any persecution of the "peoples of the book". In Islamic society, a special place was reserved for Jews and Christians. They did not enjoy completely equal rights, but almost. They had to pay a special poll tax, but were exempted from military service - a trade-off that was quite welcome to many Jews. It has been said that Muslim rulers frowned upon any attempt to convert Jews to Islam even by gentle persuasion - because it entailed the loss of taxes.

Every honest Jew who knows the history of his people cannot but feel a deep sense of gratitude to Islam, which has protected the Jews for fifty generations, while the Christian world persecuted the Jews and tried many times "by the sword" to get them to abandon their faith.

The story about "spreading the faith by the sword" is an evil legend, one of the myths that grew up in Europe during the great wars against the Muslims - the reconquista of Spain by the Christians, the Crusades and the repulsion of the Turks, who almost conquered Vienna. I suspect that the German Pope, too, honestly believes in these fables. That means that the leader of the Catholic world, who is a Christian theologian in his own right, did not make the effort to study the history of other religions.

Why did he utter these words in public? And why now?

There is no escape from viewing them against the background of the new Crusade of Bush and his evangelist supporters, with his slogans of "Islamofascism" and the "global war on terror" - when "terrorism" has become a synonym for Muslims. For Bush's handlers, this is a cynical attempt to justify the domination of the world's oil resources. Not for the first time in history, a religious robe is spread to cover the nakedness of economic interests; not for the first time, a robbers' expedition becomes a Crusade.

The speech of the Pope blends into this effort. Who can foretell the dire consequences?

Answer 1

No way! The Pope's speech was quoted from a 14th century text. George Bush isn't that smart, and the Pope was stating the values of Christianity to his Catholic followers, which isn't any different than the Muslims preaching their Mohamed.

Answer 2

Stupid Question....as stupid as the 60s when the Church controlled Kennedy or the Pope was forcing immigration of European Catholics into the US during the Civil War to influence the Lincold Administration...by the way...most Palestinians are from Egypt and other Arab areas that immigrated after the Balfour Agreement....Attrocities were commited on both sides during the crusades...Blame the evil white man again....we read the "idiots guide to the crusades" and all of sudden we are experts on the Middle East, the Crusades, Palestine, Islam...give it a rest....If I didn't know better I'd say we have a little hate towards the Jews, Republicans, Whites etc....

Answer 3

No, they are no longer. W is erroneous and has his head to date up his fanny he can see the solar shining down his throat, even yet it takes greater desirable than that to make an antichrist. i think of it greater in all probability that Bin weighted down is the antichrist for our age. each new set of generations has an antichrist. As for Pope Benedict, nicely, i replaced into dissatisfied whilst he replaced into chosen and nevertheless do no longer think of he replaced into the suitable decision, yet i do no longer think of he's a faux prophet because of the fact he does not purport to be a prophet in any respect. Popes are no longer seen to be prophets.

Answer 4

No, I don't hink that the pope is working for Bush. But I do think he could have used another quote or other words to make his point, considering the sensitivity of SOME Muslims. The retaliation by SOME Muslims was WRONG.

Answer 5

honestly i think you got this just a little bit wrong, for centuries religion controlled politics... although it "changed" i really doubt it did. I still think that it's the pope that influences the political affairs. The pope has mush more people at his feet and let's not forget crazy fanatics, which frankly are very common.
Nothing is what it seems!

Answer 6

YOU know what i think? pope BENIDICT is really working 4 the CIA under cover and on our pay roll.

Answer 7

Good one. Too bad you can't get this published. I like the way you think.

Answer 8

this are two independent body of high ranking.
NO.

Answer 9

i bush that powerfull already that he can even ask the pope to work for him?

Answer 10

Difficult question.............duh, nope. Both believe in the same God, though.