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On second thought

September 25th, 2006 No comments

In my previous post, I had some harsh words for a certain Islamic cleric, due to his quoted commentary on Pope Benedict’s Regensburg address and the subsequent hysteria.

On further consideration, I realized that I was failing to remember the Sheaism of “subtract 50 IQ points when the MSM discusses religion.”

And also, “do not attribute to stupidity what can only be explained by malice.”

So. Why was I thinking that I could actually draw a resonable conclusion from a MSM story regarding a religious issue? I mean, they can’t even cover local (American) stories right.

Mea culpa.

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"Dialogue", meaning "Shut Up and Be Like Us"

September 16th, 2006 No comments

No, this isn’t about “dialogue” within The Episcopal Church (although it could be).

This week, Pope Benedict XVI gave a lecture at the University of Regensburg on the relationship between faith and reason, and the importance of and legitimate position of Greek philosophy within Church teaching.

Dry stuff, eh? Not when he quotes, in the first third of his talk, the Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos:

“Show me just what Mohammed 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 reactions have been, unfortunately, predictable:

Across the Islamic world Friday, Benedict’s remarks on Islam and jihad in a speech in Germany unleashed a torrent of rage that many fear could burst into violent protests like those that followed publication of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad….

Chancellor Merkel is not cowed, and still remembers how to use the word ‘dialogue’ in its non-debauched form:

German Chancellor Angela Merkel defended the German-born pope, saying his message had been misunderstood.

“It is an invitation to dialogue between religions and the pope has explicitly urged this dialogue, which I also endorse and see as urgently necessary,” she said Friday. “What Benedict XVI makes clear is a decisive and uncompromising rejection of any use of violence in the name of religion.”

However, CAIR is busy using ‘dialogue’ in its debased form (meaning, “keep talking until you see things my way”):

“The proper response to the pope’s inaccurate and divisive remarks is for Muslims and Catholics worldwide to increase dialogue and outreach efforts aimed at building better relations between Christianity and Islam,” the group said.

So far, this is all SOP. Here, however, is something deserves a bit more highlighting:

“The pope and Vatican proved to be Zionists and that they are far from Christianity, which does not differ from Islam. Both religions call for forgiveness, love and brotherhood,” Shiite cleric Sheik Abdul-Kareem al-Ghazi said during a sermon in Iraq’s second-largest city, Basra.

(Side note: “Zionists”? I think al-Ghazi’s anti-Semitism is showing.)

Get that? The pope isn’t a “real” Christian, because he’s critical of Islam. Real Christianity does not differ from Islam, according to al-Ghazi. (I’m sure his Chaldean neighbors will be surprised to hear this…)

So. A Shi’ite cleric takes it upon himself to declare what “real” Christianity is — and it turns out to be just like Islam! Those “Christians” who do not accept this vision are therefore not “real” Christians, but rather “Zionists”.

An … interesting approach to inter-religious dialogue, to be sure. One that I think will be rather unproductive with non-dhimmi Christians.

It might have a chance of working at the National Cathedral, however. I hear they go in for that sort of thing.

God have mercy.

Memed! Name five people …

September 1st, 2006 No comments

Dale has tagged me with the “name five people” meme, so, here goes…

If you could meet and have a deep conversation with any five people on earth, living or dead, from any time period, who would they be?” (Explaining why is optional.) Name five people from each of the following categories:Saints, Those in the Process of Being Canonized, Heroes from your native country, Authors/Writers, celebrities.

  1. Saints
    1. Benedict of Nursia
    2. Thomas More
    3. Joseph
    4. Athanasius
    5. Maximillian Kolbe

  2. To Be Canonized
    1. Pope John Paul II
    2. John Henry Cardinal Newman
    3. Pope Leo XIII
    4. Kateri Tekakwitha
    5. Bishop Frederic Baraga

  3. American Heroes
    1. Thomas Jefferson
    2. Col. David Crockett
    3. William Jennings Bryan
    4. Benjamin Franklin
    5. Father Jacques Marquette

  4. Authors/Writers
    1. Wendell Berry
    2. G. K. Chesterton / Hillaire Belloc (can I get them as a twofer?)
    3. J. R. R. Tolkien
    4. C. S. Lewis
    5. Masanobu Fukuoka

      And, of course, S. M. Stirling 🙂

  5. Celebrities
    1. Pope Benedict XVI
    2. Larry Wall
    3. Richard M. Stallman
    4. “Doc” Watson
    5. O-Sensei Morehei Ueshiba

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