What do you mean 'he should have known better"? See that's what irritates me. What other reason does anyone need than to simply speak the truth? Muslims are at war with Christians in Indonesia, Nigeria and Sudan, in the Middle East with Israelis, in Chechnya with Russians, in India with Hindus, in Thailand with Buddhists and it goes on and on.

In our lifetime alone we know (or should know) of very real genocides committed by Muslims in the name of Islam in Rwanda, Congo, and Sudan, to mention a few. These are nothing like the fake genocide we got phony pictures of in Lebanon. There are no news crews allowed into places where Muslims are murdering people on a daily basis. But the fact is they have and are slaughtering people by the millions. And yet, all we keep hearing is that the terrorists are only a few bad apples who have high-jacked what is really a peaceful religion. And to that I say CAMEL CRAP!!

Take out a world atlas sometime and using a black marker, mark out the countries where they have either outlawed Christianity and any other religion or faith; or where even the mention of conversion can be a death sentence. Most Middle Eastern countries should give you a good place to start, but don’t forget Indonesia and Pakistan. Then mark out the countries where genocide by Muslims either has or is taking place. Finally, mark all the countries that are currently suffering from Islamic terrorism. That would include all the countries mentioned above as well as most of Europe, and the U.S. What you will find is that the majority of Islam is either doing this or supporting it financially!! Anyone who says otherwise is either completely ignorant of what is going on in the world or a complete liar.

This whole war bin Laden has declared against the U.S. stems from us refusing to continue assisting him with building the 7th century styled oppressive Taliban government in Afghanistan after we helped his people win the war against the Soviets. They are moving on Europe like a cancer and terrorism across the globe is their answer for everything that offends them from cartoons, to words written and words said.

They come to Europe and the U.S. and claim that their religion is "peaceful" but then threaten to kill any public figure who says otherwise. Our President was recently called on the carpet for referring to terrorists as Islamofacists. Why? Because the good old boys at C.A.I.R. who want to see the U.S. turned into another Islamic state didn’t like him relating Islam to Fascism; even though the connection is blatantly there and even though their attempt to segregate themselves in the press from the terrorists doing their dirty work is obvious.

They demand special protections and privileges that no one else in the U.S. gets and after years of having Muslims in this country we’re now suddenly seeing more and more of their women wearing the cover-all robes and it’s all for one reason; to shove Islam in the face of Christian America.

And I’m sorry, but it sickens me to see Americans falling all over themselves to wrap their arms around their shoulders and tell them "it's going to be alright". Well, excuse me if I choose to NOT stand in that line. It's not going to be alright and I will never under any circumstances apologize for speaking the truth. Islam isn't a religion; it is a culture of war and bloodshed. So the Pope was right for saying what he said and my only regret is that he apologized in any way for it.

Kix What I mean is this.
The Pope knows the Muslims temperment. He knows waht sets their religious leaders off. You can not tell me that he did not even think that this would incite them. C'mon the Pope is way smarter than that.
There are only a couple of reasons that he would have said what he said. One is it was an honest mistake. I still think that he is smarter than that.
Two he was intentionally trying to rile the Muslims up. Which is very possible.
And three he was just quoting from ancient text without thinking about the consiquences. Not very likely. Everything the Pope says is planned.

__________________
People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vp92vkXcC0w

I agree that everything he says is planned and probably even discussed at some length. But since there hasn't been any announcement regarding some underlying reasons for inserting those quotes in his speech the reasons are left up to speculation.

Now if I had to speculate, which I don't really like doing, I would say he might have wanted to send a message to the Catholics of the world to not fall for all the propaganda they are hearing since Islam has a very violent history dating back to before the dates of the quoted material. As far as I can see, if that was his reason, then the message was delivered loud and clear, not only in the words he said, but even more so in the reaction they received.

I can agree with that. I was just pointing out that he knew what he was saying and did it with a point.
Btw I am not Catholic and have my own views of the Pope.

__________________
People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vp92vkXcC0w

I'm not Catholic either and I have my own views on the whole concept of a Pope. So, I can see how easy it would be for some to sit back and say perhaps he was just trying to stir up some trouble. But despite my personal views on the Pope, I don’t see any reason why anyone should ever have to explain their reasons for or apologize for speaking the truth. And it’s happening more and more.

Off the top of my head I can recall the same kinds of death threats issued against several people. There was the Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasrin for her book “Shame”, Salman Rushdie for the novel "The Satanic Verses", Daniel Pipes for his many articles, the Danish cartoonists, Michelle Malkin, and Bill O’Reilly to mention a few.

And then there are the many who have actually been murdered for simply saying something negative about Islam or Mohammad. Embassies, churches, synagogues, schools, and businesses have all been attacked and/or burned to the ground.

As I see it, this is their way of terrorizing the world into submitting to Islam. I also see two ways of responding to their terrorism. One, everyone across the globe can submit and never say another negative word about Mohammad or Islam, which is what they are demanding. Or the world can send them the message that their angry and violent responses are NOT terrorizing us and continue to speak out and tell the truth. I choose the later.

Now, would you like to debate something else?

Yes and there are lots of things to debate I just don't know where to start.

__________________
People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vp92vkXcC0w