The Pope had a good point - say no to Islamic bullying

Andrew Brown has a good point here in the First Post ( whom get better and better as time goes on ) .

He puts the Pope's comments into their context and makes comment on the Islamic Bullying ( we have Islamic killing now - so why not Islamic Bullying ).

"Calling this "an insult to Islam" or to the Prophet is simply an exercise in bullying and stupidity. The most surreal sight of all is that of Turkish Muslim officials demanding that Pope Benedict apologise for suggesting that Islam is spread by the sword. For why are Turkey's highest religious officials Muslims? Because, roughly 50 years after the Emperor, besieged in Constantinople, set down his account of these theological discussions, Constantinople fell and became Istanbul."

Al Beeb - just been listening - is doing its toadying best to be pro-Muslim. The obvious question that Andrew Brown answers, is was the Pope being insulting ? ( In full context ).

The BBC should be asking why there is so much raving being wipped up in the Muslim world. But of course it won't. ( I suspect the Muslim Brotherhood are behind this, maybe a real journalist will find out. Remeber how long it took them to discover how hard Danish Muslims had been trying to stir up outrage over a few cartoons. )

Updates: 1
Islam linked to violence ? Is the Pope a Catholic ? How could anyone think such a thing.

2
As if to make the Pope's point on forced conversion here's a recent press release from the Barnabus Fund that just arrived in my inbox:

CONVERT FROM ISLAM TO CHRISTIANITY KILLED IN SOMALIA

Somali Christian sources report that Ali Mustaf Makail, who converted from Islam to Christianity eleven months ago, was shot and killed in the Manabolyo quarter of Mogadishu on 7 September 2006. Ali (22) was a cloth merchant and college student.

According to the source, the gunman was loyal to the Union of Islamic Courts (ICU), the Islamist organisation that took power in Mogadishu in early June 2006 and now controls much of southern Somalia. The gunman shot Ali in the back after he refused to join a crowd chanting Quran verses in honour of the lunar eclipse. (Solar and lunar eclipses are significant in Islam and are accompanied by special congregational prayers.) The ICU confiscated his body for 24 hours before delivering it to the grieving family.

It seems that under the new Islamist rulers, who include hard-line jihadi elements, the tragic history of persecution and martyrdom for Somalias tiny Christian community is set to continue and most likely to worsen.

In July 2006 there were unconfirmed reports that three Christians had been shot and killed by Islamists as they returned home from a prayer meeting. In October 2005 an evangelist and house church leader, Osman Sheik Ahmed, was shot dead by Islamist radicals. Children of Christian Somali refugees in Kenya have been kidnapped by Muslim relatives and taken to Islamic institutions in Somalia for rehabilitation.

The leader of the ICU, Hassan Dahir Aweys, promised to implement sharia in all areas he controls. According to sharia, apostates (those who leave Islam for another religion), must be killed. ICU leaders have even threatened to kill as apostates Muslims who are lax in their prayers, claiming this is commanded by sharia. Several Muslims have been publicly flogged for drug related offences since the ICU took control.

Over 99.5% of Somalis are Muslims and regard Christianity as a foreign religion of their historic enemies in Ethiopia and of their former colonial masters the Italians and the British. There is a long history of conflict between Muslim Somalis and Christian Ethiopians, so anti-Christian sentiment runs deep. Most Somalis take it for granted that a true Somali is a Muslim and converts to Christianity must be traitors. These prejudices, widely held by Muslim Somalis, seem to used to justify violence against Christians, both indigenous and expatriate. The US-led invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq and the recent Israeli campaign against Hizbullah in Lebanon have fuelled and inflamed the inherent hostility to the West and to Christians.

To see communiqus from earlier weeks click this link http://www.barnabasfund.org/dailycomm

Further update:

A thoughtful article by Damian Thompson has been written in the Daily Telegrpah here - certainly worth a read if your trying to understand what the Pope may be thinking.