We Muslims are sooo excitable.

Anyone who describes Islam as a religion as intolerant encourages violence.

~ Tasnim Aslam, Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokeswoman.^[1]

Thus, we conclude from this, Muslims are tolerant . . . but only of views with which they agree, such as views that sanctify their fairy tale view of themselves.

This Pakistan Foreign Ministry statement is, as you surely know by now, one of the reactions of Muslims around the world to Pope Benedict's quoting a 14th century Byzantine Christian Emperor Manuel Paleologos II thus:

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.

Homo islamicus.

Muslims here and there went into a nut roll over this all too accurate description of Muslim behavior from the time of Mohammed till the time of this emperor.^[2]

Turkey's top Islamic cleric, Ali Bardakoglu, wants the Pope to apologize about his remarks. In the true ecumenical spirit, he "unleashed a string of accusations against Christianity," which not one Christian in the entire world would think requires a street riot, a hanging in effigy, a parliamentary declaration, or one Pepto Bismol tablet.

But . . . one absolutely accurate quote about Muslim conquests and forced conversions (if you were lucky not to be killed or enslaved) and it's something the Muslims with their ever-so-tender sensibilities can seize on to go out and burn down an embassy or factory.

Who will be the first infidel killed as a result? We can only wait for the inevitable. Religion of Peace (link at bottom of this page) maintains a running count of the toll taken by Muslim killers since 9/11.

Mr. Bardakoglu stated he was "deeply offended."

So? Can we expect a scholarly response showing that Islam did not spread at sword point during that era of Muslim expansion? Of course not. Expect only world class Constantinapoleonic bluster and breast beating. Do people rend their garments any more these days? If so, expect that too.

Turkish politician Salih Kapusuz said the Pope has "a dark mentality that comes from the darkness of the Middle Ages," the Middle Ages, of course, being a time when any fool anywhere in the world understood that survival required men willing to resort to cold steel. Nowadays, the girly men prefer to "dialogue" with their enemies.

Mr. Kapusuz cried that the Pope's remarks make it look like "an effort to revive the mentality of the Crusades." We should be so lucky. Didn't one of the crusades lay waste to a part of France as it passed through? Wasn’t that a good thing?

Blogger Hyscience makes this excellent point:

It appears that no matter what is said to encourage Muslim leaders to condemn violence and terrorism, to act, speak, and think with reason instead of the usual Jihadist/Islamist/Muslim knee-jerk reactions to every call for reform and dialogue, it's always just more of the same ole/same ole "sensitivities", anger, and reactionary violence.

And wasn't the issue of "R E A S O N" that the Pope was speaking of the need for in the Muslim world - in the first place? ^[3]

And the last words in this somewhat rambling post go to Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury who has said:

. . . Muslims must learn to enter into dialogue without "crying foul".

He said: "The Pope is a distinguished scholar and one unlikely to say offensive things. If he quoted something said 600 years ago we should not assume that this represents the Pope's beliefs about Islam today.

"But Muslims as well as Christians must learn to enter into dialogue without crying foul.

"We live in perilous times and we must not only separate religion from violence but also not give religious legitimacy to violence in any shape or form."^[4]

An insightful comment but wasted on people who have no capacity for dialogue, only the capacity for coercion and intimidation, riot and intolerance, theocracy and stagnation.

Notes
^[1] "Muslims Assail Pope's Remarks on Islam." By Suzan Fraser, Associated Press, 9/15/06.
^[2] Here's some of the doctrinal support for Muslim attacks on and forced conversion of infidel creeps:

"So when the sacred months have passed away, then slay the idolaters wherever you find them, and take them captives and besiege them and lie in wait for them in every ambush, then if they repent and keep up prayer and pay the poor-rate, leave their way free to them; surely Allah is Forgiving, Merciful. And if one of the idolaters seek protection from you, grant him protection till he hears the word of Allah . . . ." -- Koran 9.5-6.

"Fight those who do not believe in Allah, nor in the latter day, nor do they prohibit what Allah and His Apostle have prohibited, nor follow the religion of truth, out of those who have been given the Book, until they pay the tax in acknowledgment of superiority and they are in a state of subjection. -- Koran 9.29.

"O Prophet! strive hard against the unbelievers and the hypocrites and be unyielding to them . . . . " -- Koran 9.73.

"O you who believe! fight those of the unbelievers who are near to you and let them find in you hardness; and know that Allah is with those who guard (against evil)." -- Koran 9.123.
^[3] "Muslim World Reacts Violently To Pope Saying Jihad Is Violent." Hyscience, 9/15/06.
^[4] "Needed: A sense of irony and a clue." Open Book, 9/17/06.