A letter to the editor I am working on

[Caesar]

I am working on this letter to the editor about the Pope's lecture and the responses of Muslims.

The Holy Father’s recent lecture at the University of Regensburg has drawn very sharp criticism from the Islamic world.

While this has angered many Muslims and non-Muslims alike, few people actually understood what the Pope was even talking about. The basis of his lecture was not Christian-Islamic relations. Nor was it about the differences in Catholic and Islamic theology. The Pope was speaking about Faith and Reason used theology from the Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, Jewish and yes, Islamic traditions in his lecture. It must also be mentioned that the exact quote which drew the immediate anger from the Muslim world was not even from the Pope: "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", is actually part of a dialogue from 1391 between the Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos and a Persian philosopher. The medieval Emperor was referring to the historical fact that the prophet Mohammed, the founder of Islam, was a 6th century warlord who imposed the Muslim religion on the inhabitants of the Arabian Peninsula through military force. The Pope’s lecture included this quote as part of a discussion on reason and the nature of God, not as a proclamation against Islam.

The Muslim world has taken this lecture as an insult, claiming it to be discriminatory and bigoted, and many Muslims have demanded an apology, while at the same time issuing discriminatory and bigoted comments of their own. Make note of the Turkish official linking the Pope to Adolf Hitler, and a picture circulating that calls for the Pope to be beheaded and refers to him as a “Swine and servant of the cross, worships a monkey on a cross, hateful evil man, stoned Satan, may Allah curse him, blood-sucking vampire.”.

The products of the Holy Father’s lecture only serve to show us the extremism and hypocrisy of the radical Islamic leaders in the Middle East, and that once again the Media has blown an issue entirely out of proportion and missed the bigger picture

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What do you all think?

[H Opey]

Sounds very good.

[mary bobo]

Originally Posted by Caesar

I am working on this letter to the editor about the Pope's lecture and the responses of Muslims.

.

What do you all think?

Very well said.

[carol marie]

Excellent!

I didn't realize that's what they were saying about our Pope. That makes me so very sad.

[Maranatha]

Excellent letter. Now that the pope issued a statement saying he regrets the misunderstandings, most of the media will report that he is sorry.

[Animadversor]

Fine, but check for grammar and usage:

The Pope was speaking about Faith and Reason used theology from the Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, Jewish and yes, Islamic traditions in his lecture.

Did you omit the word and between Faith and Reason?

Skip the unnecessary capital letters:

Faith Reason Emperor Peninsula Media

It's a mark of someone trying to appear more sophisticated than he really is. Not true in your case, I'm sure, so why appear that way?

Media is plural, hence, the media have blown....

Omit the last period in vampire.”.

Your points are excellent, but the solecisms will prejudice people against you—hope I didn't make any!

[Andrew_11]

Its very ironic that the Islamic world is offended when they percieve they are being called a religion of violence, so they respond with violence . They are proving the point they are protesting.

[Lapell]

Originally Posted by Animadversor

Fine, but check for grammar and usage:

The Pope was speaking about Faith and Reason used theology from the Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, Jewish and yes, Islamic traditions in his lecture.

Did you omit the word and between Faith and Reason?

It's not between "Faith" and "Reason", it's between "Reason" and "used" that the word "and" is missing. Also, if you're referring to the document Faith and Reason, there is no reason to drop the capital letters in the title! Maybe it would even be "And" with a capital A: Faith And Reason...

[JimR-OCDS]

Originally Posted by Caesar

I am working on this letter to the editor about the Pope's lecture and the responses of Muslims.

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What do you all think?

I think you're defending a poor choice of words by the Pope.

He messed up, and I think he understands that.


Jim

[Dale_M]

This thread is more than a year old, and if Caesar was going to send the letter, it is long since sent. This thread is one of those old threads which show up in the search results but which probably shouldn't have been dug up. Comments on the letter at this stage are rather pointless.