The View-Point

Congratulations to Pope Benedict XVI for his rhetorical excellence that has incited the fury of millions of illiterate, uneducated, 9th-century throwback Muslims around the world, through the agency of the ex-mainstream media. The Pope, through the use of a simple and straightforward quote regarding the incompatibility of the nature of God and the use of violence, has made a highly relevant and insightful point that serves as material that Muslims, along with their ex-mainstream media partners, can twist and distort to further their own demonic objectives.

Let's first look at the relevant portion of what Pope Benedict XVI actually said on 9/12/2006:

• "...the central question about the relationship between religion and violence in general, saying: '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'. The emperor, after having expressed himself so forcefully, goes on to explain in detail the reasons why spreading the faith through violence is something unreasonable. Violence is incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul. 'God', he says, 'is not pleased by blood - and not acting reasonably 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...'.
  
  [Source: Full Text of the Pope's Speech (PDF) (BBC); Key Excerpts (BBC)]

Now let's contrast this to the response from a member of the Muslim community:

• "Salih Kapusuz, a deputy leader of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's party, said Benedict's remarks were either 'the result of pitiful ignorance' about Islam and its prophet, or a deliberate distortion. 'He has a dark mentality that comes from the darkness of the Middle Ages. He is a poor thing that has not benefited from the spirit of reform in the Christian world,' Kapusuz was quoted as saying by the state-owned Anatolia news agency. 'It looks like an effort to revive the mentality of the Crusades.' 'Benedict, the author of such unfortunate and insolent remarks, is going down in history for his words,' he said. 'He is going down in history in the same category as leaders such as (Adolf) Hitler and (Benito) Mussolini.'"
  
  [Source: Muslims express fury over pope's remarks (AP) 9/15/2006]

KEY POINT: As is exemplified in the above response from Salih Kapusuz, the Islamic community knows how to engage in an effective war of words, a.k.a. 'the PR battle', or what I like to call Rhetorical Warfare. What does this mean for anyone who perceives the threat and the danger posed by the Islamic community? We must learn to engage and defeat our enemy on the Rhetorical battlefront! But let's be clear on one point: We must NOT count on the ex-mainstream media to fight this battle. This is the obligation and responsibility of the millions of us who see the truth and who are not willing to stand by while the Islamo-facists cut our throats!

The bottom line is this: At the risk of sounding crude (which is not my intent)Pope Benedict XVI, as a celibate, 79-year-old man, has more cojones than any other major world political and/or religious leader. The pope was not afraid to express the truth in his speech, nor did he attempt to pander to the Muslim masses. God bless the pope.

• These quotes, all from one news story, are an amazing continuance of the Muslim Rhetorical Warfare (emphases added in all quotes):
  
  "An al-Qaida-linked extremist group warned Pope Benedict XVI on Monday that he and the West were 'doomed,' as protesters returned to the streets across the Muslim world to demand more of an apology from the pontiff for his remarks about Islam and violence...."
  
  "...The group said Muslims would be victorious and addressed the pope as 'the worshipper of the cross' saying 'you and the West are doomed as you can see from the defeat in Iraq, Afghanistan, Chechnya and elsewhere. ... We will break up the cross, spill the liquor and impose head tax, then the only thing acceptable is a conversion (to Islam) or (killed by) the sword.' Islam forbids drinking alcohol and requires non-Muslims to pay a head tax to safeguard their lives if conquered by Muslims. They are exempt if they convert to Islam...."
  
  "...The secretary-general of the Turkish HUKUK-DER law association submitted a request to the Justice Ministry asking that the pope be arrested upon entering Turkey. The appeal by Fikret Karabekmez, a former legislator for the banned pro-Islamic Welfare Party, called for Benedict to be tried under several Turkish laws, among them obstruction of freedom of belief, encouraging discrimination based on religion, and inciting religious hatred...."

(Originally Posted: 9/15/2006 @ 4:41PM)

Labels: commentary, news

posted by Jason  # 10:12 AM