Pope remarks worry Christians in Mideast

[OhioChick]

By ANNA JOHNSON, Associated Press Writer
39 minutes ago


CAIRO, Egypt - Extra security guards around churches in Egypt and Lebanon. Armed officers surrounding at least one. With the tensions over Pope Benedict XVI's remarks on Islam still high, many in the Mideast's large Christian communities are worried about a backlash.


"We are afraid," said Sonia Kobatazi, a Christian Lebanese, after Sunday morning Mass at the Maronite Christian St. George Cathedral in Beirut, Lebanon, where about a dozen policemen carrying automatic weapons stood guard outside.

Christians — a minority in the Mideast that varies from nearly 40 percent in Lebanon to tiny communities in the Gulf states — generally live in peace with the majority Muslims.

But relations are sometimes strained and outbreaks of violence have occurred in recent years. Some worry the flap over the pope will lead to a new round.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060918/ap_on_re_mi_ea/muslims_pope

[AX10]

1. Islam is a frightening religion.

I too am concerned for the safety of these Christians.

[maxsolomon]

2. uh oh

them's fightin words round these parts. islam is a religion of peace, just like all other monotheisms.

:popcorn:

[fujiyama]

14. Haha, Islam and other monotheisms are religions of peace!

That's some funny stuff...

[Megahurtz]

15. Hahaha!

Don't forget the ultimate peaceful good time in heaven
for the men with their 72 Virgins each!:sarcasm:

Too bad a good time couldn't be had by all!:sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm:

[NOLADEM]

3. ALL religions scare me

Surrendering reason for 'faith' in something that is impossible fantasy is dangerous and bound to have horrible consequences.

People dying over this bullshit sickens me.

[AX10]

9. I agree with that!

The truth: "Surrendering reason for 'faith' in something that is impossible fantasy is dangerous and bound to have horrible consequences."

[VegasWolf]

4. American fundamentalists are frightening religions.

I am concerned about the fate of innocent atheists.

[SKKY]

5. Islam is a religion of peace? Then why would they kill a nun in Somalia?

...where is the peace in that? I'm sorry folks, but Muslims are tying their own rope with this killing because someone insulted
Mohamed crap. Imagine if Catholics thought this way today. I think the entire country of Ireland would have been wiped out
over what Sinead O'Connor did on SNL.

[VegasWolf]

6. Exactly, Muslims need to learn from the Catholics to stop murdering

disbelievers, sit back, loosen your collar, and laugh it all off.

[htuttle]

8. Did the world's Muslims get together and vote on doing that or something?

It was one nut who did that.

And if you don't think there hasn't been violence in Ireland over religion, I'd refer you to Belfast.

[stepnw1f]

11. Who Is They? Do You Know?

I didn't realize the people that killed that nun comprised of every person belonging to the faith of Islam.

[SKKY]

19. "They" are the ones who are NOT going on television, in...

...the newspaper, and on the internet to quill this hysteria. That's who I was referring to. "They" are the
several hundred thousand who called for a reporters head in Nigeria when she made a comment that "Mohamed would be proud to take
any one of these ladies for his wife." when referring to the participants in the Miss Universe Pageant. That's who I
was referring to. I apologize for not being clear.

[NOLADEM]

13. Islam didn't kill that nun....an asshole did

Do you want the rest of the world lumping you in with Tim McVeigh, Ted Bundy and Ken Lay just because they are Christians? Such generalizations smack of the bullshit I have seen on Free Republic.

"Imagine if Catholics thought this way?" Some do...see Opus Dei and the Crusades, for starters.

Generalizing the behaviors of an entire religion based on the actions of a few is prejudice and nothing more.


Yes, many assholes who happen to be Muslim act in horrid ways. However, their motivations are poverty, revenge, and lack of opportunity, all of which have DICK to do with their faith.

Now, do I think religion is sane? NO. Invisible friends are for children and inmates in the asylum, but to each his own until they fuck with me. However, the solution here isn't to somehow rid the world of Islam, it is to quit provoking people with our imperialist actions, whatever their faith.

[SKKY]

18. Opus Dei? You might as well just say the Illuminati is behind...

...all this stuff? How about all those muslims in Nigeria that rioted because a reported said, "Mohamed would be
proud to take any one of these women as his wife." when talking about the Miss Universe Pageant? Hmmmm? As I recall, it wasn't
just "an asshole..." but a few hundred thousand calling for her "head". My point is, there doesn't seem to be a "reasonable"
standard in Islam today. And I certainly don't hear the Muslim heads of state going out of their way to put down this
type of hysteria.

[Acadia Blue]

7. Christianity has just as bloody a history as any religion. The Inquisition

was not a resort vaction for noncatholics.

[SKKY]

20. So, are you saying that Catholics had their time...

...and now it's Islam's turn? Is this the "new" math I keep hearing about where two wrongs now suddely
do make a right?

[lovuian]

10. He just put a big bullseye on Rome & the Vatican

not smart...or does he really want a showdown like the Crusades

[VegasWolf]

12. "the Pope and Mel Gibson just have to stop drinking together!" Leno. nt

[oncall247]

16. Catholics should worry about comments made by evangelicals

and sourthern Baptists.

[6th Borough]

17. There are hardly any Catholics or evangelicals living in the Middle East.

The overwhelming majority of Arab and non-Arab (the majority of whose families have lived in the ME for half a millennium or more) Christians living in the Middle East are Eastern oriented in religion; the majority belonging to a variety of ancient sects mostly extinct in the Western Christian world or various branches and spin-offs of Eastern Orthodoxy. As for the few "Catholics", most of them belong to sects whom have, at the most, a very distant relationship w/ the Papacy; many are considered Latin as opposed to Catholic.

Except for a handful of modern Western wannabe missionaries, there are no Evangelicals in the Middle East. Christian communities of any size worth note in the Arab World both pre-date the Reformation and were geographically located outside of any Protestant movement.