Pope Benedict continued his unfortunate exercise in dhimmitude yesterday when he visited Istanbul's famed Blue Mosque and performed the gesture of praying toward Mecca.
Benedict XVI is the second pope in history - after John Paul II in Damascus in 2001 - to set foot in a mosque. He made the gesture at the `suggestion' of Istanbul Mufti Mustafa Cagrici, who was with him for the occasion.
This makes John Paul's Qu'ran kissing pale by comparison.
Benedict's spokesmouth, Federico Lombardi, was quick to tell journalists afterward that the pope had not actually prayed but was "in meditation."
I'm sure the Muslims will make that distinction as well, aren't you?
The imam instructed the Pope in the basics of Muslim prayer and then said "Let us turn toward the Kiblah" - the direction of Mecca, which all Muslims must face when they perform their prayers.
The pope did so...and `meditated' for about two minutes, in a classical Muslim prayer attitude known as "the posture of tranquility."
Ironically, the Pope had just come from visiting the Aya Sofya Museum, which was once the Christian cathedral St. Sophia, until Constantinople was conquered and the Turks forcibly converted it into a mosque. And while he was in what was once hallowed ground, the Pope was careful to follow the orders he was given by his Turkish hosts not to pray or take any sort of religious posture.
As little as a century ago, just prior to the Armenian Genocide and the Turkish ethnic cleansing of the Greeks in Smyrna, there were still over 2 million Christians in what is now Turkey.
Today, there are less than 120,000.
While some in the West may see the Pope's actions in Turkey as a welcome interfaith gesture, rest assured that the Muslims world will see it as subservience and capitulation.
4 comments:
Linked to your article at:
http://ronbosoldier.blogspot.com/2006/12/can-christians-impeach-pope.html
Excellent work!
Cheers, Freedom Fighter Ronbo
This is the reason why Christianity is declining. Christian leaders are more interested in gestures of "goodwill" and dhimmitude towards a hostile religion, Islam, than spreading Christianity and standing up for Christian values.
Anonymous,
Many Muslims go by a similar moral code compared to the other Abrahamic religions, and I know more than a few. But your statement, 'Islam and Christianity go by the same moral code' is demonstrably false. Have you actually read the Qu'ran, and the hadiths and compared them to what's in the Bible and the New Testament?
I have.
Historically, Islam has been responsible for a higher death toll than all other religions combined, and that carnage is still going on now, today. The numbers of people murdered in the name of Islam since its inception may even exceed the number of victims of modern secularists like Mao, Hitler, Stalin and Pol Pot.
It's time people of good will in all faiths stopped whitewashing that.
For the Pope to make the gestures he did in a site that was literally awash with innocent Christian blood a few centuries ago was appalling.
Don't let the extremists cloud your judgement. Islam isn't a terrorist religion, that's dangerous thinking. Islam and Christianity go by the same moral code. Do you think Christians are the halo wearers? Look at history books. No one person or group of people stand for one religion. You can be Muslim and not be an extremist or terrorists. So acts of good will should be out of the question? I think you are forgetting that the first rule of Christianity is to love one another. If you are a Christian you should accept your brothers and sisters in God no matter what and strive for peace among people not spread hate. I'm pretty sure the Pope knows what he's doing if his heart is in the right place. Is yours?
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