What are people thinking?

Submitted by Peter J. Herz (United States), Sep 25, 2006 at 17:23

I never cease to marvel at the thin skins and personal prickliness of the Jihadis. If the Jews accepted that Jesus of Nazareth is indeed the Messiah of Israel, they would become some subset of Christians. If Christians were to call Muhammad a prophet, they would become a species of Muslim. However, if one is serious in saying that Jesus Christ is God's final message to mankind--as the Pope presumably should--what right has anyone to be shocked at his criticism of Muhammad's prophetic claims?

I have long said that if the Muslims are willing to limit their Da'wa to words and arguments, I -- a fundamentalist Christian -- can live with them. It is only when they start calling for my head when I answer that I fear that the intercivilizational war has begun.

Yes, the Pope (and I am Protestant, not Roman Catholic) may have exacerbated a long-standing wound in Western-Islamic relations. Yet, when Muslims are screaming against "Crusaders", doesn't the Pope's ostensible office imply a responsibility to reply with some sort of answer?

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