From FoxNews: Pope Says He's 'Deeply Sorry' for Reaction to Islam Speech.
Pope Benedict XVI said Sunday that he was "deeply sorry" about the angry reaction to his recent remarks about Islam, which he said came from a text that did not reflect his personal opinion.Despite the statement, protests and violence persisted across the Muslim world, with churches set ablaze in the West Bank and a hard-line Iranian cleric saying the pope was united with President Bush to "repeat the Crusades."
An Italian nun also was gunned down in a Somali hospital where she worked, and the Vatican expressed concern that the attack was related to the outrage over the pope's remarks.
Benedict sparked the controversy when, in a speech Tuesday to university professors during a pilgrimage to his native Germany, he cited the words of a Byzantine emperor who characterized some of the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad, Islam's founder, as "evil and inhuman."
On Sunday, he stressed the words "were in fact a quotation from a medieval text which do not in any way express my personal thought."
Little Green Footballs has much more on the Muslim reaction...
Photos:
"Anyone Who Describes Islam As Intolerant Encourages Violence"
Out of the Mosque, Into the Street
Peaceful Religion Watch
Islamists at Westminster Cathedral
Articles:
Hamas Lectures Pope on Islam
This Just In: Muslims Furious
CAIR Blasts Pope, Invites Americans to Learn About Islam
Palestinians Attacking Christian Churches
Somali Cleric Calls for Pope's Death
Saudi Grand Mufti: "These Are All Lies"
London Arabic Paper: Pope = Bin Laden/Hitler
Misogynist Medieval Murderers Want Pope to Apologize
RoP's Iraq Branch Threatens Pope with Suicide Attack
The Pope's Non-Apology
But here's one good reaction regarding Islamic terrorism, in the New York Post: One Arab's Apology. (also via LGF)
WELL, here it is, five years late, but here just the same: an apology from an Arab-American for 9/11. No, I didn't help organize the killers or contribute in any way to their terrible cause. However, I was one of millions of Arab-Americans who did the unspeakable on 9/11: nothing.The only time I raised my voice in protest against these men who killed thousands of innocents in the name of Allah was behind closed doors, among the safety of friends and family. I did at one point write a very vitriolic essay condemning their actions, but fear of becoming another Salman Rushdie kept me from ever trying to publish it.
Well, I'm sick of saying the truth only in private - that Arabs around the world, including Arab-Americans like myself, need to start holding our own culture accountable for the insane, violent actions that our extremists have perpetrated on the world at large.
Yes, our extremists and our culture.
Every single 9/11 hijacker was Arab and a Muslim. The apologists (including President Bush) tried to reassure us that 9/11 had nothing to do with Islam, but was a twisting of a great and noble religion. With all due respect, read the Koran, Mr. President. There's enough there for someone of extreme tendencies to find their way to a global jihad.
UPDATE I -- Sept. 18: We regret misspelling "regretted" in the cartoon. It's now fixed. Thanks to Charles Johnson for the catch.
UPDATE II -- Sept. 19: Well, here's a Phil who really did suggest that Muslims protest against terrorism, not criticism: Stand With Pope Benedict XVI by Phil Orenstein.
But where is the Muslim outrage at the violence, the firebombing of churches, the cold-blooded murder of a Nun, the rampages in the name of Allah over the forthright words of the Pope? Where is the outrage at Iranian president Ahmadinejad’s statement to "wipe Israel off the map" or Nasrallah along with top clerics throughout the Middle East chanting the war cry "death to America?"Posted by Forkum at September 17, 2006 05:52 PMIf so-called moderate Muslims living in America and the free world wish to appear as all good people of faith whose beliefs can civilly mesh with reason and moderation rather than violence and extremism, they must stand in solidarity with the Pope together with Jews and Christians, although they may dispute his statements. If they cannot mount a show of solidarity, strong enough to confront the radical instigators of Muslim wrath and vengeance toward those who express opinions which may not be to their liking, then theirs is not a faith but an ideology of hate and intolerance that must be condemned as an assault against American ideals and those of all free peoples. They must stand up and make that choice if they are to remain as participants in a civilization that protects the free speech and religious liberties of all.
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