Pope urges Muslims to combat terrorism

[Soham]

ERLIN, Germany (AP) -- Pope Benedict XVI decried the "cruel fanaticism" of terrorism Saturday and urged Muslims to join Christians in trying to combat its spread.

In blunt remarks, he told a gathering of Muslim officials in Germany that Muslim leaders had a "great responsibility" in properly educating their younger generations.

"I am certain that I echo your own thoughts when I bring up as one of our concerns the spread of terrorism," Benedict told the Muslim leadership, mainly Turks, in his most extensive remarks on terrorism during his four-month papacy.

"Terrorist activity is continually recurring in various parts of the world, sowing death and destruction, and plunging many of our brothers and sisters into grief and despair."

Benedict did not mention specific attacks or assess blame, but it appeared significant that he chose a Muslim audience for his remarks on terrorism.

"Those who instigate and plan these attacks evidently wish to poison our relations, making use of all means, including religion, to oppose every attempt to build a peaceful, fair and serene life together," he said.

The meeting, during Benedict's four-day trip to Germany for World Youth Day, was part of the pope's outreach to non-Catholics to achieve common positions on social issues and world peace.

There are some 3.5 million Muslims in Germany, one of the highest figures in western Europe.

Going into Saturday's meeting, he had been cautious about making any links between terrorism and Islam, rejecting the idea that the world faced a "clash of civilizations" and reportedly overruling an aide who wanted to brand the July 7 London bombings as anti-Christian.

But in warning Saturday that the world risked exposure to "the darkness of a new barbarism," he stressed that Muslim leaders must "guide Muslim believers and train them in the Islamic faith."

"Teaching is the vehicle through which ideas and convictions are transmitted. Words are highly influential in the education of the mind. You, therefore, have a great responsibility for the formation of the younger generation," the pontiff said.

By working together, Catholics and Muslims could "turn back the wave of cruel fanaticism that endangers the lives of so many people and hinders progress toward world peace," he said.

The pope spoke of terrorism striking in "various parts of the world" but did not mention any specific attacks.

Israel sharply criticized the Vatican last month after Benedict condemned terrorist attacks in Britain, Egypt, Iraq and Turkey but did not mention a suicide bombing in Israel that killed five Israelis.

Benedict also alluded to another of his themes -- the need for reciprocity in religious freedom for Christians and other minorities in some Islamic countries. He did not name any but said "the defense of religious freedom ... is a permanent imperative and respect for minorities is a clear sign of true civilization."

The meeting with Muslims came a day after Benedict visited the Cologne synagogue to meet with Jewish leaders and met with Protestant and Orthodox Christian representatives.

Earlier Saturday, Benedict met with Gerhard Schroeder and the German chancellor's challenger in Sept. 18 elections, Angela Merkel, in a courtesy visit.

Merkel, leader of the Christian Democratic Union and the daughter of a Protestant minister, said after the meeting that "it was a great joy to see the Holy Father. It was great to meet a German pope on German soil."

Schroeder, who also is Protestant, as are about a third of Germans, had no immediate public comment.

After the day's meetings, Benedict was to move to the Marienfeld, a former coal mine outside Cologne for an outdoor evening service as part of the festival that has drawn more than 400,000 young people. Many of them made plans to come when John Paul II, the founder of the festival, was still alive and are eager to get to know his successor.

Many of the pilgrims at Saturday's vigil were expected to spend the night under the open sky to attend Sunday morning's concluding Mass celebrated by Benedict. Organizers say they expect as many as 1 million to attend.

Source

[lav-chan]

Well i'm glad we have some totally arbitrary guy to tell Muslims that terrorism is bad. It's not like they could use this crazy Western thing called common sense.

[LispyGlitter2]

uh...thank you Mister Pope. We ARE combating terrorism. How about we combat terrorism and YOU can combat child molestation, k? Thanks! :)

[Soham]

well said

[lardiop Veteran]

uh...thank you Mister Pope.  We ARE combating terrorism.  How about we combat terrorism and YOU can combat child molestation, k?  Thanks! :)

586408593[/snapback]

That was just about the most childish and immature post I've seen in a long time. You are implying one of several things:

1) The Church is not doing enough to combat the "droves" to priests who sexually abuse children.

2) The Pope should stay away from addressing important moral and political issues.

3) Catholicism is evil because we have some evil leaders who support molestation

Jesus himself clearly stated that:

He that shall scandalize one of these little ones that believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone should be hanged about his neck, and that he should be drowned in the depth of the sea.

If there is one body in the world today that speaks out against the crap we find in our culture its the Catholic Church. The office of the Pope (especially JPII) completely and utterly condemned the terrible acts that happened in America and seem to happen sporaticaly around the world with celebate clergy. Even good old unbiased Wikipedia is in agreement here, when they quote the Catholic Cathechism. (Official party line of the Church)

"Any sexual abuse perpetrated by adults on children or adolescents entrusted to their care. The offense is compounded by the scandalous harm done to the physical and moral integrity of the young, who will remain scarred by it, all their lives; and the violation of responsibility for their upbringing."

They also add

Critics have suggested that celibacy among the Catholic priesthood offers a means by which priests with sexual urges that are aimed towards children rather than adults can hide those tendencies, their lack of sexual feelings towards adults being unnoticeable in a completely unmarried clergy. Suggestions that paedophiles deliberately enter the Catholic clergy due to the 'cover' its celibacy provides and the access to children that was a common feature of a priest's life, remain unproven. Though paedophile rings have been found, the fact that there is no noticeable difference between the level of child-orientated sexual activity among the unmarried Catholic clergy and the married clergy of other denominations suggests that paedophiles as a group have not specially targeted the Catholic clergy for entry, though it seems likely that some paedophiles have entered its ordained ministry as they have other ministries elsewhere.

There is no evidence whatsoever that paedophilia is in any way related to celibacy itself. Some child abusers were themselves the victims of child abuse, as children, their sexual abuse tendencies being formed long before they reach the age of forming adult relationships. While some child abusers may prove incapable of forming stable adult relationships (though many do, producing the phenomenon of parents who abuse their children) their celibate status is not a cause of their abuse of children but a symptom of their sexual desires for sexual activity with children, not adults.

Evil has very disturbing ways of showing its head in this day and age. Corruption it seems usually comes from within. Look at Clinton for example, the sponsorship scandal in Canada etc.

People point the finger and say "ZOMG!!!one! look, a very small percentage of the priests/religious leaders in the world abuse children! Therefore the whole institution is evil and cant be taken seriously even its Darth Sidious looking leader! LOL" It just a ploy to justify and take away the attention from their own faults and shortcomings, and makes people feel better about themselves.

For those Christians/Catholics having some doubt here, look at the first Apostles. One of the original twelve went out and betrayed Jesus.

[lav-chan]

Sorta struck a nerve, huh?

I don't really see a difference between the Pope telling Muslim leaders to shape up when it comes to terrorism and LispyGlitter2 telling the Pope to shape up when it comes to child molestation.

Except that LispyGlitter2 probably doesn't look as keen with that neato hat.

[lardiop Veteran]

Sorta struck a nerve, huh?

I don't really see a difference between the Pope telling Muslim leaders to shape up when it comes to terrorism and LispyGlitter2 telling the Pope to shape up when it comes to child molestation.

Except that LispyGlitter2 probably doesn't look as keen in that neato hat.

586408822[/snapback]

Where did he say "Shape up guys, you're failing"? LispyGlitter made a very immature comment and gave zero support for it. The Islamic leaders of the world are well aware of the fundamentalist threat that rears its ugly head through terrorism, just like the Pope is completely aware of what happening with sexual abuse. Read his post again. He wasnt trying to make an intelligent arguement about what the Pope should worry about.

As for "hitting a nerve" I simply took the time to correct a grave misconception about the Church. Getting upset and angry over something solves nothing.

[rumbleph1$h]

That was just about the most childish and immature post I've seen in a long time.

...

586408790[/snapback]

Great post, excellent points (Y)

[lav-chan]

Where did he say "Shape up guys, you're failing"? LispyGlitter made a very immature comment and gave zero support for it. The Islamic leaders of the world are well aware of the fundamentalist threat that rears its ugly head through terrorism, just like the Pope is completely aware of what happening with sexual abuse. Read his post again. He wasnt trying to make an intelligent arguement about what the Pope should worry about.

586408851[/snapback]

Uh, yeah, you're right. He wasn't trying to make an intelligent arguement about what the Pope should worry about. Seems to me like he was mocking him. Cool that you treated it like he was trying to prove some monstrously serious point, though.

[vincent]

lispyglitter is a she btw

[lardiop Veteran]

Uh, yeah, you're right. He wasn't trying to make an intelligent arguement about what the Pope should worry about. Seems to me like he was mocking him. Cool that you treated it like he was trying to prove some monstrously serious point, though.

586408889[/snapback]

It's what he was implying that mattered. Although the context was intended to be less than serious, the implications of what he said were very far reaching. I highlighted that in my first post.

I'll highlight it again. His post implied that the posistion of leader of the Catholic Church was a joke and that he has no/limited power our authority. ("Mister Pope") That terrorism and major political issues shouldn't be his concern. ("We ARE combating terrorism. How about we combat terrorism...") And that he should worry about issues close to his aurthoity before worrying about others. ("YOU can combat child molestation, k? Thanks!") None of which degrades the validity of what the Pope said, I might add.

And thanks ripgut, and my apoligies to Ms. LipsyGlitter2 for referring to her in the male sense. Replace his with her, and he with she where applicable. ;)

And I'm not after her personally, simply trying to clear up the misconceptons that she (yes I used the right tense!) might have.

[lav-chan]

lispyglitter is a she btw

586408915[/snapback]

Not that this has anything to do with the thread or anything, but i believe that since LispyGlitter is female-to-male transgendered, the correct pronoun to use would be 'he'. Unless LispyGlitter wants to correct me on that.

It's what he was implying that mattered. Although the context was intended to be less than serious, the implications of what he said were very far reaching. I highlighted that in my first post.

586408920[/snapback]

If you say so. :shrug:

Nothing in your post was wrong in the slightest. It's just that it was a pretty over-board response for something that wasn't meant to be serious.

[lardiop Veteran]

Not that this has anything to do with the thread or anything, but i believe that since LispyGlitter is female-to-male transgendered, the correct pronoun to use would be 'he'. Unless LispyGlitter wants to correct me on that.

If you say so. :shrug:

Nothing in your post was wrong in the slightest. It's just that it was a pretty over-board response for something that wasn't meant to be serious.

586408945[/snapback]

Whatever Ms/Mr LipsyGlitter wishes to identify him/herself as, replace as necessary. And yes lav-chan, heaven forbid a thought out and clear reply to an unfounded statement made on Neowin. :happy: (regardless of the context in which it was found)

I just wanted to leave no room for misinterpretation, which is the absolute worst when it comes to very serious moral and ethical issues like terrorism and pedophelia. Maybe it was a bit long, but it did express what I wanted it to; That shrugging off important subjects like that is what usually creates the problem in the first place.

[LispyGlitter2]

Just stop it you guys. I was making a point. Everyone has lately been talking about every muslim cleric and imam to come out and say they are against terrorism and that they should be doing something about it. Now, on the flip-side, the Pope, being the leader of the Catholics, should also see that within his people are people who are molesting children. My point was that instead of laying critisicm at the imams for terrorism, he should look within his own people to stop child molestations. In no way shape or form am I telling the Popoe that he should look only at his own people but I would like to see alot more people coming out against the child molestations, just as we have seen from the terror attacks. Recently, I was astonished at the amount of new reporters and journalists who flocked to masjids and Islamic Centers demanding answers, apologies, and rulings on the terrorist attacks. Why should I or my local imam have to apologise for killings that are not even allowed in the Qur'an? I also don't believe that the Pope should have to apologise for the child molestations. It is sick people who do it in the name of religion and screw with it. My point was that if the Pope comes out to publicly say he wants an apology for the attacks, then I would like an apology on behalf of the children who have been molested within the Church.

EDIT: I am identifying as female, thank you for your concerns. Female pronouns are appropriate.

Edited August 21, 2005 by LispyGlitter2

[mAcOdIn Veteran]

Actually, as the head of the Catholic church, I think the Pope has a far better chance and influence to combat the child molestation scourge than Islamic terrorism, hence that should be a higher priority to him, in my humble opinion of course.

I mean, I work at a rental store, so I'm not going to tell the construction workers how to repave the road on my way home, and if I did what are the chances they'd listen?

Same thing for the Pope, he has all the pull in the world to deal with matters of his own church, yet nothing but the power of friendly suggestion in outside matters. Considering the way this Pope combatted child molestation was to try and sweep it under the rug and get his priests immunity, perhaps that's how he wants the Muslim clerics to combat terrorism?