“I am deeply sorry for the reactions in some countries to a few passages of my address,” the pope told pilgrims at the summer papal palace of Castel Gandolfo, “which were considered offensive. . .Faithful readers of this site may be surprised I'm a hundred percent behind Herr Benedict XVI on this one. Not so much for the content of his put-down -- I don't know jack about Mo -- but that he doesn't apologize for it; just for the fanatics' reaction.
"The true meaning of my address,” he [added], “in its totality was and is an invitation to frank and sincere dialogue, with great mutual respect."
Nobody should ever have to apologize for speaking what they believe to be a truth, least of all when some dope decides to get offended by a perceived affront to his or her nebulous belief system, faith or religion. Better the dope apologize to you for being such a tight-ass in expecting you to believe as he does.
5 comments:
Frankly, I understand his need to cry foul regarding the violence and savagery. But, I always chuckle when I hear Christians call other religions or the believers of "savages" considering they have that little thing called the Spanish Inquisition under their belt. There's no difference here people. The Christians just had no planes to park in any tall buildings to get people to convert. They had a bunch of nifty machines though that would draw and quarter you. I won't even get into the amount of trees used to burn people at the stake who refused to take Jesus as their Lord and Saviour.
...spared by another academic lesson in history...
Should one apologize to a lazy pathetic cripple for humiliating him with the comment, "get off your lazy ass, you pathetic cripple"? Perhaps where truth is a defense for defamation, it also is an absolution for rudeness: hear hear, let's not mind our manners; civil discourse is for the girly-men. I should think a Pope, of all people, would have the depth of character to find some sorrow within himself for causing a fellow human being a measure of pain,however "truthful" the Pope felt he was being.
clever, sightseer, except if the cripple is humiliated for being a cripple, the truth is lost by calling him lazy or pathetic... as for the poop, er, pope, the greater truth, of course, is the catholic church has been dispensing pain for roughly 2,000 years and as such is least in position to criticize anybody... the pope should be imperical in his truths, no... ?
Oh how witty anonymous! Do you do card tricks or juggle something as well? Or are the one-liners the highlight of your show?
sightseer -
I fail to see the relevance of humiliation or manners in this regard, but I suppose this is also not a discussion on comparative value.
The Pope was trying to support his apparent contempt for radical islam by quoting ancient text, and frankly defamation is only so when it does not cite the truth. So, there goes your second point. Nevertheless, I will agree that he was attempting to point to a version of the truth that is commonly accepted without calling them beasts directly.
Personally, I would have preferred the more direct "you are all a bunch of fucking lunatics" approach, but then again, I don't hold my breath waiting for honesty out of the Catholic Church, or any church for that matter.
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