As to the Pope - and his speech....

cameragirl21 wrote: At the risk of bringing up yet another controversial topic, I just thought I'd state my thoughts on the matter.
Bottom line, maybe the pope shouldn't have said what he said because I'm sure he knew it would lead to a great deal of anger on the part of Muslims.
However, perhaps he was trying to point out what I have always felt, which is that in life, people are going to say things that offend you and your beliefs but it doesn't give you the right to kill people or remove their heads from their bodies.
I feel that since people tolerate jokes about Jesus, the Holocaust and other aspects of various religions, the same should be expected of all of us and perhaps we should all be held to the same standards.
If Muslims can say that Jesus was a Muslim who never died on the cross (which is what they believe) and claim the holocaust never happened then they should not expect us in the West (or anyone else) to be any less outspoken.
Everyone has an opinion and some are more eager to share theirs than others.
It's important IMO to have respect for everyone's beliefs, not matter how off the wall they may seem to us but at the same time IMO sawing off someone's head because you don't like what he said about your beliefs is the type of behavior that may have been appropriate in the stone age but should not be accepted today.
As long as that double standard exists, people will continue to say things like what the pope said and the fans will continue to be flamed.
I also want to add that I don't believe the pope's intention was to upset anyone and I don't think he should be compelled to apologize if he's not really sorry.
What's the point of saying you're sorry if you don't mean it? Doesn't mean anything then, does it?

CantWait replied:
Unfortunetly sometimes we have to save face even if we don't want to and apoligize even if we believe in what we say. It happens all the time even here on PC.

I don't think the Pope apoligized for saying what he said, but rather for the fact that it was upsetting.

Also, just because people make jokes about the holacust, and different religions, doesn't make it any more right, or any less tasteful.

jcc64 replied:

So true....

luvmykids replied:
Many times I'm not sorry for what I may have said but am deeply sorry that I upset someone.

Nina J replied: I wonder if he apologised out of his own free will, or if somebody made him??



I agree that we should respect everyone's beliefs. In an ideal world everyone would be able to accept what others believed in, but unfortunatly, it's not an ideal world. There will always be conflict and people will always behave in ways that are horrific.

redchief replied: The Pope apologized because the quote the Muslim world is screaming about was taken out of context, and he never intended for that to happen. He did not apologize for referencing the quote. No one makes the Holy Father say or do anything, except himself and God.

I too believe that everyone's beliefs should be respected. Respect for a position and agreement with it are not the same thing though. The Christian world takes ridicule and offhand remarks with a grain of salt. I daresay you'd be hard-pressed to find any faithful Muslim so easy-going.

cameragirl21 replied:
my point exactly, Ed.

Nina J replied:
I've been friends with a practising Muslim family for years. Every member of the family is easy-going, more easy going than alot of my other friends. I don't know how they remain so kind, they put up with so much. People telling them they're terrorists and throwing rocks through there windows.

There are an estimated 1.4 - 1.6 billion people who are Muslims in the world, I'm sure there are alot of faithful Muslims who are easy going.

CantWait replied:
You said it much better then I, that's exactly what I meant.

redchief replied:
By easygoing I meant with regards to verbalizations about how the rest of the world views their faith. I know many Muslims too, and I'll tell you; they don't take affronts to their faith in anything like an easygoing manner. It's almost politically incorrect for American Catholics to take offense to the almost continual lambasting of the tenets of our faith. On the flip side, it's become politically incorrect taboo to refer to Muslim beliefs as harmful to non-Islamic society.

Nina J replied:
Oh, I see, I thought you meant easy-going in general, not just verbalizations.

redchief replied:
I was just saying that the Muslims I know, and what I see in general (in the MSM - Main Stream Media) defend their faith tenaciously - not always violently, but tenaciously nonetheless.

luvmykids replied:
You said it fine, I meant to use the "Ditto" smilie but was being lazy

Crystalina replied: We should know that the Pope never apologized for what he said at all. He apologized for the reaction that his statement got.