Does the Pope Poop in the Woods?

On Tuesday it was widely reported that the Pope had quite a bit of bad stuff to say about Islam and the prophet Mohammad.

"Benedict said Christianity is tightly linked to reason and contrasted this view with those who believe in spreading their faith by the sword."

Actually some christian theology is linked to reason (I will write about that some time) but he is way off by saying that Islam believes in spreading faith by the sword. He must be attending the Karl Rove school of propaganda or has some memory loss.

"...the Pope quoted, among others, the 14th century Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologos who wrote that Mohammad had brought things "only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.""

Way to win hearts and minds there, Popey.

"Benedict several times quoted Emperor Manuel's argument that spreading the faith through violence is unreasonable and that acting without reason -- "logos" in the original Greek -- was against God's nature."

Man you could write a whole book arguing as to why the pope is talking out of both sides of his mouth there. Which god are we talking about anyway? The god of the old testament? The god of the new testament? Oh, the "logos", the creator, the word, the utterance of life! I didn't know anyone believed in that one. Silly me.

The Pope's handlers tried to explain what the pope meant.

"... Benedict used Emperor Manuel's views on Islam only to help explain the issue and not to condemn all of the Muslim religion as violent."

And "This is just an example. We know that inside Islam there are many different positions, violent and non-violent. The Pope does not want to give an interpretation of Islam that is violent."

Well you sure could have fooled me. Benedict was right however in stressing that faith needs to be partnered with reason but so far no mainstream religions have embraced that concept and stressed it to their followers. god forbid people should think for themselves

Apparently, Muslims did not find the Pope's speech an invitation to dialogue. Would you want to "dialogue" with someone who told you that everything you believed in was evil and that you are wrong and unreasonable?

In Today's NY Times: Muslim Leaders Assail Pope’s Speech on Islam
Muslim leaders around the world were very insulted by the Pope's comments and expect an apology. The pope's handler's insist that the pope didn't mean to hurt anyones feelings.

The Vatican just installed a new Secretary of State today. Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, 71, gets to start out in his new position by tackling the Pope vs Islam controversy.

Vatican experts in Rome spoke of a papal "slip" and suggested that future pope speeches may be checked by the Secretary of State's office to ensure they do not spark further diplomatic incidents of this kind.

I just knew that this was going to open a big can of worms.