AMAZON

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos

In Australia, the government's Muslim Advisory Group chairman Ameer Ali has condemned the current outbreak of Muslim violence that has included the burning of an effigy of the Pope in Iraq, the murder of a Catholic nun in Somalia and firebombing of churches on the West Bank. “They have to move on,” he said.

In the Balkans, the millions of Muslims living there—remnants of the 15th century conquest of Eastern Europe by the Muslim Ottoman Empire—have primarily ignored the Popes words and remained peaceful.

Those have been two bright spots in a week in which, as with the publication of the Danish Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons almost a year ago, Muslims around the world have engaged in self-indulgent temper tantrums, including bombings and murders. Al Qaeda in Iraq has vowed war on "worshippers of the cross" targeting the extermination of all Christians in a massive holy war. In Somalia, where Catholic nun, Sister Leonella, used her last breath to forgive the Muslims who murdered her, the Islamic militia that has conquered most of southern Somalia announced that it is setting up "holy war training camps," to preparation for a worldwide "holy war" to exterminate all non-Muslims.

All of this in response to the words that Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos spoke to “an educated Persian” 600 years ago. That Pope Benedict XVI quoted from this dialogue brought the issue into the 21st Century. And the bloody and blood-thirsty reaction of Muslims validated the accuracy of the words spoken by Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos:

"Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new and there you will find things only bad and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." He then continues, saying, "God is not pleased by blood - and not acting reasonably (syn logo) is contrary to God's nature. Faith is born of the soul, not the body. Whoever would lead someone to faith needs the ability to speak well and to reason properly, without violence and threats... To convince a reasonable soul, one does not need a strong arm, or weapons of any kind, or any other means of threatening a person with death..."

It has been becoming more and more evident that Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos was on target. After all, Muslims began killing one another less than a decade after Muhammad’s death and have been continually doing so for almost fourteen hundred years, with frequent periods, such as the present, of murdering non-Muslims. I write that knowing, as with the Pope’s speech, the words are not politically correct, and could lead the crazy Muslims targeting me for death, too. Of course, as a Christian, I have already been targeted.

I am tired of the bloodshed—the bombings, the kidnappings, the murders, etc. I am tired of the world and its leaders kissing Muslim asses every time they throw their adolescent temper tantrums.

Sunday I wrote that Muslim terrorism cannot be defeated by force of arms. In a coming blog, which is now in draft form, I will make the suggestion that only Muslims can defeat Muslim terrorists—if they are willing, which to date it seems they are not.

In the meantime, I pray for the ever increasing list of victims to the blood-thirstiness of Islam, Muslims as well as us infidels.

17 comments:

  1. I came for the jokes, Nick...

    This is so incredibly sad-

    praying too!

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  2. I, too, am tried of the violence and I join you in prayers for the ever increasing list of victims to the blood-thirstiness of Islam, Muslims as well as us infidels.

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  3. It would be nice if Muslims would contain Muslim terrorists but they do not seem to be so moved.

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  4. I do not think the Pope should have aplogized. What he quoted was correct.

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  5. If the Pope wanted to talk about violence in religion, he should have started with an example from his own faith: the crusades, the inquisition, or the Spanish colonization of Mexico.

    Before talking about the speck in his brother's eye, he should have taken the plank out of his own.

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  6. the blood-thirstiness of Islam

    christians aren't any better

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  7. RHAPSODY: I hope you found the jokes as well as the sadness.

    AZSONOFAGUN: Our prayers are certainly needed.

    APPU: My primary concern about fundamentalists, Christian as well as Muslim, is that they are willing to utilize attacks on non-combatants to achieve an unachievable goal. No matter what they do, they are not going to force the world back to the 14th century where they think they would feel secure.

    WILL: I agree. Unfortunately, I don’t know if they will do it. We Christians here in the U.S. have been unable to effectively deal with our fundamentalists. Of course, it doesn’t help that our current president is one of them.

    TANSUHREE : I concur. Murder in the name of God is still murder and the God with whom I am acquainted neither will nor lend Her name to it.

    JON: I agree. I believe we have too often backed away from truth because some people fear it.

    THOMAS: Christians have been dealing with the violence of our history since World War II and have apologized and made amends many times. The present issue is the terror inflicted upon innocent people by Muslim fundamentalists. That must be addressed from all perspectives. The murder of the Catholic nun, Sister Leonella, who had dedicated her life to serving the poor and sick, no matter what their religion, by some terrorist because he objected to the words spoken by a Byzantine Emperor 600 years ago is horrible and insane.

    BRIGHTON: Thank you—and it’s much too sad.

    ANONYOUS: When you identify yourself I shall respond to your stupidity and ignorance.

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  8. "...to exterminate all non-Muslims."

    The CNN article doesn't say this. Did you make this part up, or can you cite a source?

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  9. ANONYOUS: When you identify yourself I shall respond to your stupidity and ignorance.

    pompous ass

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  10. It's sad. It's a total holy war. It'll never end unfortunately, and as they say, it'll only get worse as time goes on. We can hope and pray that it'll get better...but it doesn't look like it.

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  11. This “holy war” has been going on for a very long time. I remember the shock we both had when Rich Higgins was kidnapped by Hezbollah 15 or so years ago, tortured and murdered. Rich was head of UN peacekeepers in Lebanon, but that means nothing to those vicious fanatics.

    Nick, I know Rich was your friend and how much his malicious murder affected you. It is the same for all the friends and families of the victims of these Mohammedan fanatics. I feel their pain, as I know you do, too.

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  12. Ahhhh I am so over the whole thing as well. But I just think that it is unlikely that while there is religion we will ever have peace. I respect people's choice of belief...but dogmatism has brought about much pain.

    -N

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  13. Life is not giving a lot of time right now and some things just suck. So I didn't get a chance to read your post even though I'd like to.

    Just wanted to stop by and say hi.

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  14. Despite calls for calm from Islamic and Western leaders, hundreds of angry demonstrators burned an effigy of the pope in the southern Iraqi port city of Basra, while al-Qaeda pledged a jihad (holy war) until the “servant of the cross” (the pope), and the West, are defeated.

    Iran was unmoved by Sunday’s apology, saying it was not abject enough and called on the 79-year-old pontiff to admit he had made a mistake. “He needs to say more clearly that what he said was an error and correct it,” Tehran government spokesperson Gholam Hossein Elham said.

    The Basra protesters – who burned German and American flags – said the pope’s remarks insulted Islam. They called for him to be tried by an international court.

    Around 100 hardliners rallied outside the Holy See’s mission in the Indonesian capital Jakarta, waving a banner depicting the Vatican as an “axis of Satan”.

    Iran’s supreme leader Alik Khamenei said the pope’s remarks were the latest “links in a chain” of a US-Israeli conspiracy aimed at creating conflict between religions.

    An al-Qaeda statement posted on the Internet yesterday threatened to “smash the cross”. “We say to the servant of the cross: Wait for defeat ... We say to infidels and tyrants: Wait for what will afflict you,” it said. “We will smash the cross,” said the statement attributed to the Mujahedeen consultative council.

    Other armed groups in Iraq – Jaish al-Mujahedeen (the Mujahedeen’s Army), Asaeb al-Iraq al-Jihadiya (League of Jihadists in Iraq), and Ansar al-Sunna (Partisans of the Precepts of the Prophet) – threatened the Vatican with reprisals.

    Earlier, a hardline cleric linked to Somalia’s powerful Islamist movement called for Muslims to “hunt down” and kill him, while an armed Iraqi group threatened attacks on Rome and the Vatican.

    Gunmen shot and killed an elderly Italian nun on Sunday at a children’s hospital in the Islamist-controlled Somali capital of Mogadishu. And in the Palestinian territories, assailants threw Molotov cocktails and a burning tyre at two Catholic churches on the northern West Bank.

    In his apology on Sunday, the leader of the world’s 1,1 billion Roman Catholics said he was “deeply sorry” for the offence caused by his remarks, made in Germany last Tuesday, in which he quoted an obscure medieval text that criticised some teachings of the Prophet Mohammed as “evil and inhuman”.

    A diplomatic offensive was subsequently launched to explain to Muslim countries the pope’s position on Islam. Vatican secretary of state Tarcisio Bertone claimed the pope’s words had been taken out of context and “heavily manipulated”.


    A Saudi daily newspaper said his remarks were “beating the drums of war” for the American far-right.

    The European Commission condemned “disproportionate” reactions to the speech, saying that violence struck at one of the EU’s chief ideals – freedom of speech.

    French President Jacques Chirac said: “We must avoid any confusion between Islam, which is of course a respected and respectable religion, and radical Islamism which is a totally different form of behaviour and of a political nature.”


    Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams noted: “There are elements in Islam that can be used to justify violence, just as there are in Christianity and Judaism”.


    Yusuf al-Qaradawi, a Sunni Muslim, said on al-Jazeera television that he considered the pope had “not apologised” and called on Muslims to hold a day of ”peaceful anger” on Friday, the last day of collective prayer before the start of Ramadan.


    Sydney’s Archbishop George Pell said ”There is no need for the pope to apologise.… I think what he feared has been established … if there is some sort of criticism, even mild, there are elements among the Muslims who will resort to violence or threaten violence.”

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  15. Hi Nick ~ Like everyone else, I too am so tired of all the bombings, and
    terrorist activities in this world.
    Basically we all just want peace, it
    sounds so simple, but it's not.
    Take care Nick, Regards, Merle.

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  16. Haahaaha nick, Nice post. By the way, did anyone laugh out loud at your innocent but tongue-in-cheek humour in the last two paragraphs?

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