Elliott C. Back: Internet & Technology

Pope Benedict XVI: “Muhammad brought … evil”

Posted in Religion, Scandal by Elliott Back on September 16th, 2006.

In a speech in Germany earlier this week, Pope Benedict inadvertently condemned Islam by making a historical reference:

In the seventh conversation…the emperor touches on the theme of the holy war. Without descending to details, such as the difference in treatment accorded to those who have the “Book” and the “infidels”, he addresses his interlocutor with a startling brusqueness on the central question about the relationship between religion and violence in general, saying: “Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.”

The BBC has photographs showing some of the Muslim reaction:

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Unfortunately, the Pope’s initial comments appear to be at least partially confirmed by the extremist reaction:

“We swear that we will destroy their cross in the heart of Rome … and that their Vatican will be hit and wept over by the Pope,” said Jaish al-Mujahideen (the Mujahideen’s Army) in the statement, whose authenticity could not be confirmed.

Personally, this reminds me of the Danish cartoon scandal, which by critique of Islam incensed the conservative Muslim world. Unfortunately, the Pope has more authority than a group of newspaper editors, so this incident is only just beginning.

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 16th, 2006 at 3:12 pm and is tagged with pope benedict xvi, jaish al mujahideen, pope benedict, religion and violence, heart of rome, benedict xvi, muslim world, newspaper editors, initial comments, danish cartoon, central question, interlocutor, infidels, holy war, extremist, brusqueness, muhammad, authenticity, emperor, critique. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback.

6 Responses to “Pope Benedict XVI: “Muhammad brought … evil””

  1. sharique says:

    Please don’t compare the Pope to Jaish al-Mujahideen . Jaish al-Mujahideen is an extremist organization and their views don’t represent those of majority of muslims. They keep threatening people and thus bring bad name to religion.Wherease the Pope is the official representative of catholics

    But the Pope should have shown more responsibilty in his speech.Here is my analysis http://www.shaarique.com/oh-no-not-again/s

  2. sharique says:

    oops the link is http://www.shaarique.com/oh-no-not-again/

    sorry for the mistake

  3. Should the Pope have learned to shut up?…

    Should the Pope have exercised his right to remain silent?…

  4. I remember the Danish cartoon fury because you had an excellent analysis of the cartoons in question. I even linked to it on my blog. So I came back here to read it again and I see that it has been scrubbed from the archive.

    This is very telling…

  5. A Catholic says:

    There’s always the ‘good’ reason – to re-visit historical quotes from the past, and a vision of one’s western way of life – that should be left only by the Muslim world. You should watch your families – cause the Normans raids may come – if you push us.

  6. mohamedrasdi says:

    If you remember the 2 Priests were the one who condemmed Jesus to be cruscified on the Cross. Now the Pope forget that Muhammad is dead but his image as Prophet is still alive forever.

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