Pope Benedict and Islam

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Benodette	Vatican: convert who slammed Islam doesn't express pope's views	#601	[url]	[-]
Member Posts: 5086 03/27/08 11:39:56	Herald Tribune - The convert from Islam who denounced what he called "inherent" violence in Islam a day after Pope Benedict XVI baptized him was not expressing the pope's views, a Vatican spokesman said Thursday. Magdi Allam, an Egyptian-born deputy editor of Corriere della Sera newspaper and frequent commentator on Islamic terrorism, "has the right to express his own ideas, which remain his personal ideas, without obviously becoming in any way the official expression of the positions of the pope or the Holy See," said the Rev. Federico Lombardi, the chief Vatican spokesman. Benedict baptized Allam, 55, in St. Peter's Basilica on Saturday night during an Easter vigil ceremony televised worldwide. Lombardi told Vatican Radio that "to welcome into the church a new believer obviously does not signify marrying all his ideas and views, particularly on political or social subjects." Vatican: convert who slammed Islam doesn't express pope's views
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galantarie	Liveleak	#602	[url]	[-]
Member Posts: 4339 03/28/08 14:38:20 Member	Geert Wilders' 15-minute movie "Fitna": the Islamization of Europe (Wilders compares the threat of Islam in Europe to that of fascism before World War II.) Gerald Traufetter in Amsterdam: Not Hyperbole or Metaphor, but Repetition By Bas Blokker by Emilie van Outeren and Derk Stokmans it was the murder of film-maker and professional provocateur Theo van Gogh in 2004 by the son of Moroccan immigrants that revealed how the Netherlands, a country with a population of 16 million, is struggling with its ethnic minority residents. Dissatisfied voters blame established political parties of having glossed over the cultural and religious differences between native Dutch people and 'the newcomers'. This polarisation has created fertile ground for Wilders' movement to flourish..... An incident last year in which Wilders launched an attack on two junior ministers is a case in point, says Halsema. In an interview with NRC Handelsblad in February 2007, Wilders said he would propose a motion of no-confidence against two newly inaugurated members of prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende's cabinet because they had dual citizenship. He expressed doubts about the loyalty of Ahmed Aboutaleb, who has both a Dutch and Moroccan passport, and Nebahat Albayrak, who is a Turkish as well as a Dutch citizen. "If the prime minister had stood up and defended his cabinet members, Wilders wouldn't have been able to capitalise on the issue," says Halsema. Tolerant Politics Christian Democrat Jan Schinkelshoek admits his party has been unable to take Wilders on. "Like others, we are still surprised and maybe even shocked by the appeal of extremism. I don't know if we can counter it", he says, guessing that other mainstream parties struggle with the same problem. Diederik Samsom, a prominent member of the government coalition Labour party: "There are no proven methods for fighting Wilders' bigotry with tolerant politics. Wilders has the same problem: his way of fighting the intolerance of Islam is to be more intolerant himself. But I am convinced this approach leads nowhere." Ban on Koran The same pattern unfolded when Wilders wrote an article in de Volkskrant newspaper, demanding a ban on the Koran. He described the Muslim holy book as a 'fascist text' that preaches violence. A week later he repeated his demand for the ban in a parliamentary debate about Islamic activism - held, by chance, on his birthday. Subsequent attacks by political opponents provided him with the opportunity to hold the floor for hours. During this time, he called the prophet Mohammed 'a barbarian' and told the integration minister that she was 'crazy'. Wilders himself said his own performance was the best birthday present he could have wished for. The uproar around Wilders' film Fitna, however, has broken Wilders' usual pattern. News of the film was leaked to the press against his will, he says. With international criticism from Muslim countries, strong pressure from the Dutch government not to release his film, the refusal of Dutch broadcasters to screen it in its entirety and the difficulty in finding a venue topresent Fitna, the question arises as to whether Wilders is still the director of his creation..... Taking a Cue from the Danish Cartoon Scandal* By Jytte Klausen ...Wilders' mini-movie in Holland, launched into cyberspace on Thursday evening, neatly follows the script established during the cartoon affair....The build-up in Denmark took a long time, but ultimately threats were made against Jyllands-Posten's editors, its publisher, the cartoonists and other people selected by a logic that is hard to fathom. Over 2,000 Danish computers were attacked by hackers three months after the cartoon crisis started in early February 2006. Most targets were randomly selected and had no relationship to the newspaper. Girl Scouts troops, school districts, companies, the Foreign Ministry, and families who happened to have a Web page were among the victims, according to H-Zone, a watchdog site that specializes in tracking hackers....This time, though, the threats began arriving even before the video was released. This month, three Dutch families who happen to share Wilders' last name received letters in the mail threatening to kill them, their children, or their grandchildren if they didn't stop their namesake from releasing his film. And this before the movie even went online.....there are serious threats. And the definition of what constitutes a "credible" death threat has changed since van Gogh's slaying by a Dutch extremist of Moroccan extraction. Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard, famous for depicting Muhammad with a bomb in his turban, and two other cartoonists have had to go underground because of very real threats. Jyllands-Posten cultural editor Flemming Rose, who commissioned the cartoons, found himself in the same situation. In Holland, Wilders has been under 24-hour police protection since 2004 and reportedly spends the night in high-security barracks. ... On Feb. 3, 2006, an anonymous text message was disseminated among Muslims around the world claiming that the Koran would be burned the next day at a demonstration in Copenhagen. It was a message that confirmed the widespread suspicion in the Muslim world that the cartoons weren't just an isolated event, but rather a symbol of a Danish population intent on insulting Islam. When recipients forwarded the message, it spread like wildfire. The rumor nearly came true. A Danish group had planned to stage a public burning of a copy of the Koran. The next day, the Danish police arrested 179 demonstrators and counter-demonstrators converging for a protest organized by Dansk Front, a neo-Nazi group. The mass arrests prevented the group from staging the announced bonfire. A group of French militants drove up for the demonstration and had their own happening. They filmed themselves pissing on the Koran and posted the video on YouTube, where it can still be seen. But should we worry about "Fitna's" release? Will it mobilize radical groups in the same way? Will it lead to a replay of "Something Rotten in the State of Denmark" or the "Jihad Behind the Dikes" kicked off by the 2004 murder of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh? Much of the rhetoric is exaggerated, but there are serious threats. And the definition of what constitutes a "credible" death threat has changed since van Gogh's slaying by a Dutch extremist of Moroccan extraction. Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard, famous for depicting Muhammad with a bomb in his turban, and two other cartoonists have had to go underground because of very real threats. Jyllands-Posten cultural editor Flemming Rose, who commissioned the cartoons, found himself in the same situation. In Holland, Wilders has been under 24-hour police protection since 2004 and reportedly spends the night in high-security barracks.... The film begins with an image that every Muslim in the world and many others are likely to recognize immediately: the controversial caricature of Mohammed wearing a bomb as a turban. The publication of this and similar drawings in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten in September 2005 triggered unrest in the Arab world....The Muhammad cartoon reappears, but now the fuse on his turban bomb is lit. Then there is the sound of an explosion. Is the Prophet exploding, like a suicide bomber? According to Wilders, the noise is the "roar of thunder and lightning." Wilders has apparently tried to avoid any legal repercussions by replacing the explosion with the sound of thunder. He also sought to downplay the sound of pages being torn out of a book by adding that the pages are from a telephone book. "He apparently looks for boundaries, but he avoids crossing them," Yusuf Altuntas, the spokesman for a Muslim organization, said on Dutch television. "I find that many of the images are not really original. They're simply clicked together from the Internet." Dutch Muslims, Altuntas added, are thick-skinned, and he said that he doesn't believe that the film would provoke them. "I can't say the same for other countries," he added. A similar reaction came from the spokesman of an organization of Moroccans in the Netherlands known as "Landelijk Beraad Marokkanen." He said that he was relieved that the film has finally been released. "The concerns I had about unrest and the like have now been reduced considerably." But Leo Kwarten, an Arabist, believes the film's low-impact nuances will be lost on the Arab World.... The first few images show us immediately what sort of film the long-awaited "Fitna" is. ...there are clips of bodies being dragged through the street and fiery speeches interspersed with pictures of the Koran. Indeed, parts are taken directly from jihadist promotional material. You see the beheading of a kidnapping victim by Islamic terrorists, angry preachers of hate and a small girl being indoctrinated as an anti-Semite. One almost has to ask how jihadists could possibly object to this movie? In that respect, it was a victory for jihadists -- because Wilders obviously cowed to them. He ultimately protected himself by not burning the Koran....Wilders has animated the bomb fuse on Mohammad's head, allowing it to burn up. Then the image is faded out and followed by a sura from the Koran calling Muslims to fight the infidels. The airplanes that crashed into the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001 appear through the lettering, followed by images of people jumping from the burning towers, screaming desperately. The film continues in this suggestive mode: with images of the Madrid train bombings, of imams calling for global dominance, with a video showing the beheading of a Western hostage and with statistics on the rapidly growing number of Muslims living in the Netherlands. Wilders shows a postcard with the words "Greetings from the Netherlands" on it, but instead of pictures of windmills, we see mosques. "Is this the Netherlands of the future?" the film asks, as it shows an image of a girl being subjected to female circumcision. "I had to warn people," Wilders said. "This isn't a provocation, it's the 11th hour." Women being stoned, beheadings -- the makeshift collage of images of horror from Arab countries is meant to generate a sense of alarm among Wilders' fellow Dutchmen. He calls upon Muslims to tear what he considers to be hate-filled pages from the Koran, accompanied by a soundtrack of pages being torn from a book. ...Before showing a clip of the infamous jihadi propaganda video showing Eugene Armstrong, an American contractor in Iraq who was beheaded in 2004 by Musab al-Zarqawi's group, and footage of murdered Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh, Wilders translates relevant sura from the Koran: "Smite their necks," it starts. We get the idea: Muslims kills Christians because the Koran tells them this is how they should treat infidels....The footage it shows of the execution of a woman comes from Afghanistan. In its waning days, the Taliban used a soccer field in Kabul for public executions....And horrifying footage of the planes flying into the World Trade Center is prefaced with another citation from the Koran: "Strike terror into their hearts ..." This is not an artistic performance with a veiled actress and the sound of a whip as in Theo van Gogh and Ayaan Hirsi Ali's Submission. In "Fitna" we see an edited verse from the Koran in which the faithful are called on to hunt the enemies of Allah with "all force." There then follows footage of the attacks on the World Trade Centre and Madrid railway station. In the smoke of an explosion we see the face of an Islamic leader saying: "What pleases Allah? Allah is pleased if non-Muslims are killed." AFP A scene from "Fitna:" Scenes of murder, terrorism and hate preachers Gijs van de Westelaken, producer of the film "Submission" by Theo van Gogh, was disappointed: "I don't see how any of it was a political attack -- quite unlike 'Submission.' Now that was a real statement." The government has not commented on the film yet. Clerics and Muslim officials are meeting in the mosques in Amsterdam's suburbs to discuss how they should respond to the Wilders film. They plan to issue a statement at a press conference on Friday. It's likely that Wilders will face a legal challenge over his film. A photo in the video meant to be of van Gogh's radical Islamist murderer Mohammed Bouyeri actually shows Dutch-Moroccan rapper Salah Edin, who now wants to sue Wilders for royalties! "Fitna," which according to the credits at the end of the film was made by Wilders and someone hiding behind the name of Scarlet Pimpernel, is a 16-minute long compilation of largely archive material. There is no new footage, apart from perhaps that of a Dutch woman in a burqa pushing a stroller. The material is largely taken from news broadcasts and Internet downloads. That's clever, because lots of these short pieces are put on the net by (radical) Muslims and Wilders is using their own weapons against them. The most shocking scene is the beheading of a western hostage by radical Muslims, although the actual killing is faded out. The archive material has been edited to make Wilders' point: that the Koran calls for violence and Muslims are receptive to that call. It is a tried and tested method of film-making. According to the book "Nazis and the Cinema" (Susan Tegel, 2007), the Soviet film-maker Esfir Schub was the first to work like this in her film "The Fall of the Romanov Dynasty" (1927). The most noted example of this technique is "Der ewige Jude" (The Eternal Jew) (1940) by Frits Hippler. To make it clear, apart from the use of existing material, there is no similarity between that anti-Semitic production and "Fitna." Hippler wanted to show that Jews were sub-human, and combined images of filthy Polish ghettos with squirming rats to make his arguments more powerful. In "Fitna," Muslims are only shown if they make radical statements. Wilders does not appear in front of the camera to debate with Muslims, as British atheist Richard Dawkins did with people of all religious persuasions in his television series "The Root of all Evil" (2006). He does not feature at all, apart from in a newspaper headline when he was threatened. So a comparison with Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11," in which he tried to torpedo George Bush's re-election, fails for that reason. Moore uses his bulk and his ironic voice to help make his point. That has more of a comic effect. And this is another difference with Wilders' film. It has no humour. Wilders does not use metaphors or hyperbole to make his point, but repetition. The rhythm goes like this: a verse from the Koran in which Jews or other heathens are threatened with death or torture, then images of terrorist attacks by Muslims followed by a shocking statement by a Muslim leader. Then a new verse. This rhythm ends with the promise that one day Islam will rule the world. After this point has been made a few times, a subtitle appears on the screen: "The Netherlands under the influence of Islam." Newspaper headlines then follow ("Ex-Muslim Jami beaten up," "Cabinet says no burqa ban") and statistics which show how the number of Muslims in the Netherlands and Europe is increasing. The message is clear: at the moment they are living under Arabic dictatorship, tomorrow the Netherlands will be an Islamic dictatorship itself. This rhetoric makes "Fitna" similar to a film like Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth," in which the former vice president hammers home his message that the earth is undergoing global warming and we must do something now. Another, less well-known example is "Harry Potter: Witchcraft Repackaged," by a US evangelical group which wants to prove that JK Rowling's books are dangerous to children. The conclusion is the same as in Wilders' film: ban the books. Or as Wilders says at the end of his film: at least tear out the Koran verses which sow the most hate. "I have a mustard- seed; and I am not afraid to use it." [Ratzinger:"Salt of the Earth"] May Our Papa's radiant-light continuously shine forth to illuminate Christ for the world! Last Edited By: galantarie 03/28/08 14:46:57. Edited 2 times.
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Benodette	Public spotlight on a personal conversion	#603	[url]	[-]
Member Posts: 5097 03/29/08 12:33:24	From John Allen - Rarely does an Easter Vigil Mass become a news event, but this year's edition in St. Peter's Basilica certainly got the world's attention. The reason: One of seven new Catholics personally baptized by Pope Benedict XVI happens to be an Egyptian-born Italian journalist and convert from Islam, widely regarded as the successor to Oriana Fallaci in terms of visceral protest against Muslim extremism. Magdi Allam, 55, formerly a self-described "secular Muslim," had long expressed affinity for Catholicism. He's a star attraction, for example, at the annual Communion and Liberation meeting in Rimini. In itself, Allam's conversion thus came as no great surprise. The fact that Benedict baptized and confirmed Allam personally in such a high-profile setting, however, was taken in some quarters as a provocation. Allam added fuel to the fire with an Easter Sunday letter to the editor of his own newspaper, Corriere della Sera. Among other things, Allam charged that deeper than the current wave of fundamentalist-inspired terrorism, Islam itself contains "the root of evil" because it is "physiologically violent and historically prone to conflict." All this was bound to produce blowback, and it wasn't long in coming. Few questioned Allam's right to convert, but rather the public spotlight afforded by the pope. Aref ali Nayed, for example, director of the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre in Amman, Jordan, suggested that the affair "provokes genuine questions about the motives, intentions and plans of some of the pope's advisers on Islam." A piece on a Hamas-owned Web site by Palestinian journalist Khalid Amayreh objected to the "purposefully high profile the Vatican gave this conversion," adding that "the problem lies in the vindictive atmosphere, including anti-Islamic allusions and insinuations." Critical notes were also heard from the Catholic world. Italian Catholic journalist Aldo Maria Valli published a letter that he said came from a priest "working on the frontier with Islam," charging that the Allam baptism "repeats the error of Regensburg" -- a reference to the global firestorm that followed Pope Benedict's Sept. 12, 2006, lecture at the University of Regensburg, quoting a 14th century Byzantine emperor to the effect that Muhammad brought things "only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." Stung by such protest, the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, published a commentary on Tuesday by editor Gian Maria Vian insisting that there had been no "hostile intent," and stressing the importance of religious freedom. Vian also asserted that Benedict XVI is committed to dialogue with Islam. The Vatican spokesman, Jesuit Fr. Federico Lombardi, said Thursday on Vatican Radio that "to welcome into the church a new believer obviously does not signify marrying all his ideas and views, particularly on political or social subjects." Be that as it may, it's tough to believe anyone at the Vatican was actually surprised by the reaction. For one thing, Allam sometimes comes off as deliberately incendiary; he recently expressed the hope, for example, that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will be captured by the Israelis and forced to live at Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial. For another, the Vatican is obviously aware, post-Regensburg, of keen sensitivity in the Islamic world to perceived papal slights.... Given those realities, why did Benedict do it? At least three points come to mind: For a pope committed to reawakening a strong missionary spirit in Catholicism, receiving a high-profile convert during the Easter Vigil is a symbolic way of making the point. In effect, Benedict is saying that the church shouldn't shrink from receiving anyone who knocks on its door, even if there's a political price to be paid. Allam's baptism can also be read as a statement of solidarity with Muslim converts to Christianity around the world, many of whom suffer in various ways on account of that decision. Finally, the episode illustrates an important wrinkle to Benedict's personality -- stubborn indifference to the canons of political correctness. Benedict is a gracious figure, but he also refuses to sanitize what he regards as important matters of belief or practice in order to avoid PR headaches. Whether that amounts to moral courage or tone-deafness to public reaction is a matter of opinion, but the pattern is clear. Public spotlight on a personal conversion
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Unicorn	Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi replies to Prof. Aref Ali Mayed	#604	[url]	[-]
Member Posts: 1250 03/31/08 01:44:16	Fr. Federico Lombardi SJ has just released a response to the comments of Mr. Aref Ali Nayed concerning the conversion and baptism of Magdi Cristiano Allam: Vatican Aide Clarifies Baptism of Former Muslim Says Church's New Member Does Not Represent Holy See VATICAN CITY, MARCH 30, 2008 (Zenit.org).- A Vatican spokesman is suggesting that Benedict XVI's willingness to baptize a high-profile convert from Islam may have aimed to affirm the freedom of religious choice, deriving from the dignity of the person. Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican press office, released a message Thursday in response to a statement from Professor Aref Ali Nayed, a spokesman for the 138 Muslim scholars who last fall wrote the Pope and other Christian leaders, to seek further dialogue between Christians and Muslims. … Father Lombardi put Allam's baptism at the Easter Vigil in context. He said that "administering baptism to someone implies a recognition that that person has freely and sincerely accepted the Christian faith in its fundamental articles, as expressed in the 'profession of faith,' which is publicly proclaimed during the ceremony of baptism. Of course, believers are free to maintain their own ideas on a vast range of questions and problems, on which legitimate pluralism exists among Christians. Welcoming a new believer into the Church clearly does not mean wedding all that person's ideas and opinions, especially on political and social matters." … Responding to Nayed's reference to Benedict XVI's 2006 lecture in Germany, which brought wide attention after the Pope's quotes were taken out of context and falsely attributed, the Vatican aide affirmed that "explanations for interpreting [that address] correctly in accordance with the Pope's intentions were given some time ago and there is no reason to question them once more." "At the same time," Father Lombardi added, "some of the themes touched upon then, such as the relationship between faith and reason, between religion and violence, are naturally still the subject of reflection and debate, and of differing points of view, because they concern problems that cannot be resolved once and for all." Vatican Aide Clarifies Baptism of Former Muslim Proud to be Papist! "Each of us is the result of a thought of God. Each of us is willed, each of us is loved ..." - Benedict XVI "He knocks at the door, he is close to us and thus true joy is close, which is stronger than all the sorrows in the world, and in our life." - Benedict XVI
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Benodette	For the Vatican, King Abdullah Matters More than 138 Muslim Scholars	#605	[url]	[-]
Member Posts: 5102 03/31/08 15:57:46	From Sandro Magister - The accusations directed against Benedict XVI for baptizing a convert from Islam, Magdi Cristiano Allam, at the Easter vigil - as reported in an article from www.chiesa three days ago - has elicited two responses, direct and indirect, from the Holy See. The Holy See expressed its point of view in a direct way in "L'Osservatore Romano" for March 25-26, with a note by the newspaper's director, Giovanni Maria Vian. And again with a statement on Vatican Radio, March 27, by its director, Fr Federico Lombardi. But even more interesting are the indirect ways in which the Holy See rebutted the criticisms, during those same days. The arena for these indirect responses was, once again, "L'Osservatore Romano." On Thursday, March 27, the pope's newspaper dedicated an extensive article to the figure of Ramon Lull, a Franciscan who lived between the 13th and 14th centuries, a great expert on Arabic language and literature and an ardent promoter of a missionary preaching aimed at converting and baptizing Muslim populations in the Mediterranean countries dominated by Islam.... The second highlight presented by the pope's newspaper is the following passage: "Intercultural and interreligious dialogue; collaboration among Christians, Muslims and Jews for the promotion of peace. These are the topics that, on November 6, 2007, were at the center of the meeting in the Vatican between Benedict XVI and Abdullah, who was received in audience with his entourage. During the historic meeting - it was the first visit of a Saudi sovereign to the pope - mention was also made of the positive presence of the Christian community in the country (representing about 3 percent of an almost entirely Muslim population). Several days ago, the government of Riyadh decided to begin refresher courses for forty thousand imams, in the attempt to foster a more moderate interpretation of Islam and to discourage the extremists." He who has ears to hear, let him hear. In the judgment of the Church of Rome, the dialogue with Islam is not limited to the follow-up to the letter of the 138 - one of whose leading exponents, Aref Ali Nayed, has directed extremely harsh criticism against the pope for having baptized Allam - but is developed in multiple areas, some of which it believes are more promising than others. As for Benedict XVI, it is increasingly evident that both his lecture in Regensburg and his decision to baptize a convert from Islam at the Easter vigil in St. Peter's are not gestures of rupture, but, on the contrary, are precisely that which makes intelligible and unequivocal - for Muslims just as for Christians - his desire for dialogue, expressed for example in his silent prayer at the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, and in his warm encounter with the king of Saudi Arabia. For the Vatican, King Abdullah Matters More than 138 Muslim Scholars Allam baptism makes more waves, prompts more questions Last Edited By: Benodette 03/31/08 16:00:36. Edited 1 time.
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Unicorn	Fr. Samir comments on the Allam baptism	#606	[url]	[-]
Member Posts: 1251 03/31/08 21:04:14	Fr. Samir Khalil Samir SJ, writing in AsiaNews, comments extensively on the conversion and baptism of Magdi Cristiano Allam, and on the consequences of this truly noteworthy event. Here are some excerpts: Magdi Christian Allam, a contested conversion by Samir Khalil Samir, SJ The Catholic baptism of the well known journalist, Magdi Allam, Egyptian and non practising Muslim, has been criticised and despised by the Islamic world. Added to this, is the embarrassment in Christian quarters, of those fearful of seeing a new crusade being launched by Benedict XVI and the Church. Instead, just as with the Regensburgaddress, this baptism is a message in defence of religious freedom, of evangelisation and of co-existence between religions. Beirut (AsiaNews) - Every year, during the Easter Vigil in St Peter's basilica, the pope baptises a group of adults drawn from the various continents. On the feast of the baptism of Jesus, meanwhile, the pope traditionally baptises small children. This year's vigil saw 7 people baptised. One of them was a Muslim, well known in Italy and abroad: Magdi Allam, deputy editor ad personam of the leading Italian daily newspaper Corriere della Sera. … Increasingly Magdi Allam specialised in the phenomenon of radical Islam, above all in the aftermath of September 11th 2001. His staunch opposition to this form of Islam which portrays itself as violent, radical, intolerant and invasive grew . As the violence of this Islam became blinder and more widespread, to touch the entire Islamic world, Arab and non Arab alike, his opposition intensified. It must be remembered that this form of radical Islam was born in the early '70's in Egypt; in the undercurrents of the Muslim Brotherhood - founded in Cairo in '28 - and that it strengthened itself thanks to the ideological and financial aid of Saudi Arabia and the Wahhabita School. Egypt has radically changed in these past 30 years. And Magdi has taken note of this: all of the radio and television programmes have been islamified; Egyptian cinema, the most famous throughout the Arab world, has become puritanical and Islamic; not even the merest of negative allusions to Islam is accepted; films can no longer be made about the prophets from the Old Testament; religious television now concerns itself with all areas of life; mosques are multiplying at an amazing rate; the veil has now become all but compulsory; the niqab - which corresponds to the Afghan burka, covering the woman's entire body except for her eyes - is increasingly becoming the norm. … The day after his baptism, Magdi Allam wrote a letter to his paper explaining the reasons for his choice, why he was baptised by the pope, etc... Some people's reaction was to declare that baptism is a personal choice and as such should not be exposed in public. In his position, I perhaps would not have chosen to do so, but it is not incorrect to have done as he did. What is for me somewhat disjoined is that he chose the moment of his baptism to continue his analysis of Islamic fundamentalism. That was the precise moment in which Magdi could have communicated how Christianity is the fulfilling of Islam's religious leanings. This too would have been of worth: contemporary Islam is heading full speed towards an intransigent integralism of vast proportions; contemporary Christianity on the other hand, is moving towards increased openness. Thus his choice would gain increased understanding. Moreover, conversion is not simply a break with the past (in this case with Islam). It is also a projection towards the new and the future. This other more intimate dimension, the discovery of Christianity and of a strengthening bond to Christ, Allam does not speak of. If he did, perhaps he would risk becoming the target of criticism from those who maintain that conversion is a private and personal matter. But it would be truly wonderful to discover his personal reasons for this choice. … According to Muslims, if you are born Muslim you remain Muslim, even if you distance yourself from the practise of the faith. This is why it is impossible to convert to another religion. Having reached perfection with the practise of Islam, the fullness of divine revelation given by God to the heart of Adam, but developed and culminating in the Koran, you cannot turn back. In the Koran, even Adam is Muslim. This is how I understand the reaction of a person dear to me and published in the newspaper Repubblica March 23: "there was no need to reject the love and faith for the prophet Mohammad in order to demonstrate love for Jesus. Within their doctrine, Muslims recognise the figure of Christ and the Virgin Mary". "This is why I fail to understand the choice to reject the tradition of the Islamic message: any form of apostasy is seriously perplexing". Instead I say: you cannot be Christian and Muslim at the same time, because there are irreconcilable points which divide them, at a level of dogma (be that Christ is the last revelation of God, or that Muhammad is the "Seal of the Prophets" who brought the last message to humanity); at an ethical level (be that the duty to forgive and love your enemy: or the non duty to do so etc.); at a historic level (be that Christ died on the cross; or that he did not die and is still alive). Muslims may have the 'highest regard for Christ and the Virgin Mary" but the Christ of the Koran (however wonderful he may be) is not the Christ of the Gospel. … Conversion and religion are also treated with distrust by the western secularized world. It is enough to consider the scandal which erupted in the wake of French President Nicolas Sarkozy's recent comments on Europe's Christian roots and the need to rely on religions in order to regain lost secular values. Secularists claim that it was secular enlightenment which brought values to the world and not religion. Benedict XVI's Regensburg address aimed to complete the conquests of the enlightenment by opening up its reasoning to the religious dimension. However he also added: this does not mean returning to the situation preceding the enlightenment; his proposal is not a return to the past but a step forward … The fact that Benedict XVI accepted to personally celebrate the baptism of Magdi Allam is surprising. It must also be said that he did so without ostentation, giving the same importance to all 7 baptised, and not giving precedence to the Muslim convert. This emphasis on the Islamic convert is the work of the press, overly used to attributing political meanings. But Benedict XVI wanted to underline that everyone, Muslim, Atheist, Christians who have abandoned the faith, are all called to the faith. He wanted to affirm the universality of the Christian calling, not because we Christians are the largest group, but to underline that every human being is called by Jesus. Everyone has the right to know Christ. No-one is excluded. … Freedom to evangelise (tabshîr), and freedom to islamify (da'wa) must be guaranteed. Christianity, for me, is the most beautiful and perfect religion, and Islam, despite its many beautiful traits, is not the fulfilment of the divine project for man, it is not the appeal to humanism. At the same time I admit that the Muslim is convinced of the contrary and it is his right, rather his duty to be so! This is true reciprocal respect: each person follows his conscience and increasingly tries to enlighten the other. The pope does not hide his certainty that Muslims still need one more step to reach the perfection of truth. But despite this he neither attacks nor slanders Muslims. And when a Muslim says to me "it is a shame you are not Muslim!" I understand that he holds me in deep respect. And my feelings towards him are the same. This reciprocal respect is fundamental in order to build a peaceful coexistence between religions, but also with the atheist and secularist: a society in which each person is convinced of the truth of his position, but in which he is also convinced of the others right to live this certainty and live it with me. … The pope's baptism of Magdi Allam is not an act of aggression, but an exigency of reciprocity. It is a calm provocation that serves to make us sit up and think. Each one of us must live as a missionary, attempting to offer to the other the best of what one has encountered and understood. … Benedict XVI's gesture is a great leap for coexistence between peoples. Above and beyond this complete identity witnessed in freedom, there is only the disdain of those who think differently to me or the relativism of those who are without certainties - and which is often expressed in great intolerance. Magdi Christian Allam, a contested conversion Proud to be Papist! "Each of us is the result of a thought of God. Each of us is willed, each of us is loved ..." - Benedict XVI "He knocks at the door, he is close to us and thus true joy is close, which is stronger than all the sorrows in the world, and in our life." - Benedict XVI
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Unicorn	Magdi Allam credits Pope for his conversion	#607	[url]	[-]
Member Posts: 1256 04/01/08 23:54:02	The saga continues … except that this time, let's hear again from the other man at the center of the "controversy", Magdi Cristiano Allam himself. From the Catholic News Agency: Magdi Christian Allam attributes conversion to Benedict XVI Buenos Aires, Apr 1, 2008 / 07:04 pm (CNA).- In an interview with the Argnentinean daily La Nacion, Italian journalist Magdi Christian Allam, the Muslim convert baptized by Pope Benedict XVI during the Easter Vigil, said the Pope played a key role in his conversion despite the fact that prior to his baptism he had never met the Pontiff. Allam explained that his conversion was "a slow and gradual process. Since I was little I was aware of the Catholic world because I went to Italian-run Catholic schools in Cairo…and this allowed me to learn about the Catholic religion from the inside in a correct way." However, he pointed to two factors that influenced his conversion: the threats he received for questioning Islam, and the person of Pope Benedict XVI. The threats he began receiving beginning in 2003 led him to reflect not only on the reality of Islamic extremism and terrorism but also on Islam as a religion. "I was forced to analyze the Koran and the works and thoughts of Mohammed, and I discovered that there are profound ambiguities that allow for violence and terrorism to be legitimized." "The second factor was having met various Catholics with whom I felt completely in tune, as we shared the same values. Of course the most influential person in this conversion was this Pope, Benedict XVI, who I had never personally met before my baptism during the Easter Vigil," he revealed. Allam says that was the "first and only time" he personally encountered the Pope. "As a journalist, I followed all of the activities of Benedict XVI and was completely fascinated by this thinking. I completely shared his concept of the indissolubility between faith and reason. I was always fascinated by this Pope because he is not only a great man of faith, but also a great man of reason. I think that many fear the Pope not because of his faith but because of his reason, his ability to challenge them in the realm of reason," Allam said. Magdi Christian Allam attributes conversion to Benedict XVI And, from the National Catholic Register: Benedict's Muslim Convert Journalist Says His Was a Personal Journey, not a Political Act By Edward Pentin, Register Correspondent ROME - Pope Benedict XVI had a surprise guest at the Easter Vigil: A prominent Italian Muslim who had spent a year preparing to enter the Catholic Church. Magdi Allam, 56, was baptized March 22 in the globally televised Easter Vigil at St. Peter's Cathedral. In the tense dialogue between Christians and Muslims, his personal statement of faith was misinterpreted by some as a provocative political maneuver. But Allam told the Register that he, not the co-religionists he left behind, knows best why he converted to the Catholic faith. … In recent years, he said, "two experiences accelerated my path" to conversion. "The first was five years ago when I found myself escorted under armed guard because of threats from extremists and Islamic terrorists," said Allam. "This situation forced me to reflect not only on the reality of Islamic extremism, but also Islam as a religion." The second experience was the opportunity to encounter ordinary Catholics - and one extraordinary one, Pope Benedict XVI himself. "I am proud to have been one of the few Muslims in Italy working for a national newspaper who stood firm in defending the Pope after his discourse in Regensburg on Sept. 12, 2006," said Allam. "I didn't only defend him in the name of freedom of expression, I also defended the content of what he said, believing that it corresponded to the truth on a historical and scientific level." … To Allam, the controversy about his conversion reveals a deadly double standard. "I am really baffled that they consider the baptism of a Muslim to Christianity a provocation, and that the image of the Pope baptizing a Muslim should make this fact even more serious," he said. "It's as if some think the baptism of a Muslim is something shameful, so much so that they'd have preferred it if I was baptized in a distant parish, away from the people, because it's better that people don't know about it. I am proud to be a convert to Catholicism and to have publicly affirmed it in a solemn way." He said in Europe, there are thousands who have converted to Islam and "no one says anything. No one is allowed to criticize them, or threaten them, but if just one Muslim converts to Christianity, immediately he is sentenced to death for apostasy. That's happening now in Europe - not in Saudi Arabia. If we in Europe are not at the stage of defending religious liberty, including the right of a Muslim to convert to the Christian religion or any other faith, then I'd say we have lost our battle for civilization and liberty." … To Allam, the baptism says something quite different about Pope Benedict. "He has put faith and reason before other diplomatic and political considerations," said Allam. "I believe the Pope in this circumstance has shown himself to be a great Pope because he has set himself above the fray." Benedict's Muslim Convert Proud to be Papist! "Each of us is the result of a thought of God. Each of us is willed, each of us is loved ..." - Benedict XVI "He knocks at the door, he is close to us and thus true joy is close, which is stronger than all the sorrows in the world, and in our life." - Benedict XVI
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galantarie		#608	[url]	[-]
Member Posts: 4349 04/05/08 08:58:41 Member	Iraqi Christians Seek Refuge in Germany By Peter Wensierski Christians are being severely persecuted in Iraq. German churches are now urging the government to be generous in granting them asylum -- and have encountered broad support. Translated from the German by Christopher Sultan Yavuz Arslan / Das Fotoarchiv The seven orphaned Jalal children with their grandparents in the German city of Essen. The peaceful, idyllic scenery outside their window is completely foreign to them. The house in the western German city of Essen, where they had arrived the previous Wednesday, faces a landscape of small gardens in full bloom. Fascinated, the seven children in the Jalal family are constantly looking out the window. They have come from Mosul in Iraq to Germany's Ruhr region, where their grandparents, who have already been living here for four years, have taken them in. Armed Sunnis forced their way into the Jalal family's house last August. Screaming "damned Christians," they beat the children, the eldest of them only 14. The attackers spat at pictures of the Virgin Mary on the wall and then shot the mother to death in front of her children. Her husband had been kidnapped a few days earlier on the way to work and disappeared without a trace. The escape from Iraq took the children to Germany by way of Damascus. Staff members at the German embassy in the Syrian capital were so touched by their story that they did everything within their power, even involving senior members of the German Foreign Ministry, to help the children. Reports compiled by the department -- headed by Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, a member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) -- paint a grim picture of the situation for Christians in Iraq. Only 400,000 of the 800,000 Christians who were living in Iraq in 2005 remain there today. "Threats, murder and abduction are part of daily life for Christians in Iraq," says the German government's human rights commissioner, Günter Nooke, a member of the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU). According to Bishop Wolfgang Huber, the head of the Evangelical Church in Germany, Christians in Iraq face violence that is the equivalent of "ethnic cleanings and genocide in other places." Huber has quietly joined forces with representatives of the Catholic Church to campaign for the establishment of a German humanitarian assistance program, and his efforts have apparently met with success. This week Erika Steinbach, human rights spokeswoman for the CDU and the Christian Social Union (CSU) joint parliamentary group, plans to argue for a contingent solution that would involve the rapid acceptance of a large number of refugees in Germany. The Interior Ministry has already taken an important humanitarian step. In a decree dated May 15, 2007, Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble (CDU) ordered that asylum already granted to Iraqis should not be revoked "for the time being." It could be assumed that Christians from central and southern Iraq, Schäuble wrote, were being "generally persecuted as a group by non-government parties in Iraq." This provides the roughly 2,500 refugees already in Germany with the certainty that they will not be sent back to Iraq, at least for now. In a few days, however, there will be far more at stake within the Human Rights Commission in the German parliament, the Bundestag. The churches want lawmakers to guarantee the long-term right of asylum and settlement for a much larger number of refugees -- between 20,000 and 30,000 Christians who are part of the educated upper and middle classes in Iraq. There is enough capacity in Germany, argues Bishop Huber, "to provide, in collaboration with European partners, a relevant number of Iraqi refugees with the opportunity to settle here." According to a spokesman of Interior Minister Schäuble, the government "is thinking about a contingent solution." Human rights commissioner Nooke also favors Germany accepting the Iraqi refugees. The End of an Ancient Christian Culture For years, human rights groups like Amnesty International and the Society for Threatened Peoples have sought to draw attention to the plight of Iraqi Christians, who have apparently been caught between two fronts. Sunnis and Shiites alike hate Christians and because many of them speak English and often work for the military as interpreters, they are seen as supporters of the coalition forces and thus as "traitors" to the Iraqi people. Priests are being murdered, churches blown up and bombs detonated in Christian schools. Last spring, Sunni militias demanded that Christian families in places like Basra and Mosul pay a "special tax for infidels." Those who were unable to pay were told to send a family member to the mosque on Fridays to publicly convert to Islam. Families that refused to comply with either edict were ordered, in the name of Allah, to leave their houses within 24 hours. This has made refugees out of thousands of Christians, but the capacity of neighboring countries like Syria to accept them has reached its limits. Christian clerics in Iraq -- and at the Vatican -- were long hesitant to address the idea of flight and exodus more clearly, anxious not to further accelerate the process of emigration. Iraqi Christians, after all, are leaving their homes in an ancient Christian region with a unique history. Those who are now being driven out are the descendants of the original Christian communities between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, one of the cradles of world Christianity. Most Iraqi Christians belong to the Chaldean Church, which dates back to St. Thomas the Apostle in the first century A.D. The exodus signifies the preliminary end of a culture that is thousands of years old. This explains why the Chaldean Catholic Archbishop of Mosul, Paulos Faraj Rahho, wanted to stand his ground and be "the last to jump ship." Unknown assailants abducted Rahho in February. His body was found three weeks ago in a garbage dump near Mosul. "I have a mustard- seed; and I am not afraid to use it." [Ratzinger:"Salt of the Earth"] May Our Papa's radiant-light continuously shine forth to illuminate Christ for the world!
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Unicorn	Fr. Samir on Christians and Muslims	#609	[url]	[-]
Member Posts: 1265 04/07/08 21:45:42	Some weeks ago, a news item from Saudi Arabia declared that no churches would be built in the Kingdom until the Holy Father recognizes the Prophet Muhammad. Fr. Samir Khalil Samir SJ, responds to this "condition" in this interesting commentary in AsiaNews: Christian and Muslims or how to live together with different dogmas by Samir Khalil Samir, SJ Is the Jesus of the Qur'an that of the Gospels? Should Christians consider Muhammad a prophet? Some Saudi experts seem to think so and want to build dialogue on blackmail (a church in Saudi Arabia in exchange of a profession of faith about the prophet Muhammad). Christianity and Islam are however different and sometimes opposed to one another. Instead of syncretism or blackmail, the only path is that of mutual respect. Beirut (AsiaNews) - Last 20 March various news agencies reported the following news from Riyadh: "No churches should be permitted in Saudi Arabia, unless Pope Benedict XVI recognised the prophet Mohammed." This is the proposal put forward by some mediators in Riyadh who are negotiating with Vatican authorities the possibility of building a Catholic place of worship in the kingdom. Anwar Ashiqi, president of the Saudi Centre for Middle East Strategic Studies, expressed this view in an interview on the site of Arab satellite TV network, al-Arabiya. "I haven taken part in several meetings related to Islamic-Christian dialogue and there have been negotiations on this issue," he said. "It would be possible to launch official negotiations to construct a church in Saudi Arabia only after the Pope and all the Christian Churches recognise the prophet Mohammed."* * * * There is some misunderstanding that must be cleared up. Sheikh Anwar Ashiqi said: "Since our religion recognises the Christian religion and the figures of Jesus, Moses and other prophets . . ." Does Islam recognise the Christian religion and the figure of Jesus? What does "recognises the Christian religion" mean? If it means that it "recognises the truth of the Christian religion as it defines itself," then Islam is no longer Islam. How can Anwar Ashiqi recognise the Trinity, the Incarnation, the Redemption and every Christian dogma when the Qur'an clearly denies them? … Can the Pope and Christians recognise Muhammad as prophet? What does it mean "the Pope and all the Christian Churches" must recognise the "Prophet Muhammad?" What has the Pope got to do with "all the Christian Churches?" since the issue is only about the eventual building of a church for Catholics, which was the request made last 6 December during the meeting between the Pope and King Abdallah. What authority does the Pope have anyway over other Churches . . . or vice versa! But the strangest thing of all is the request that the Pope recognise Muhammad's prophetic character. How do you do that? How do you recognise that he is the "seal of the prophets" to quote the Qur'anic expression that runs through the Muslim tradition? How can Christians believe at the same time that Christ is the Word of God, God's final message to humanity, the Divine Word incarnate, and that after him God, his Father, sent another prophet to seal the Revelation, i.e. complete, correct, contradict what is said about him in the Gospels? Christian and Muslims or how to live together with different dogmas Proud to be Papist! "Each of us is the result of a thought of God. Each of us is willed, each of us is loved ..." - Benedict XVI "He knocks at the door, he is close to us and thus true joy is close, which is stronger than all the sorrows in the world, and in our life." - Benedict XVI
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Benodette	The Pope and Islam: Let's Stop Kidding Each Other	#610	[url]	[-]
Member Posts: 5153 04/09/08 09:54:46	Rabbi Irwin Kula in the Washinton Post The Question: Pope Benedict's recent baptism of a well-known Italian Muslim has prompted criticism in much of the Islamic world. Has Benedict done enough to build bridges to Islam? So here we go again - a religious act that polarizes. The Pope, a leader of 1.1 billion people decides to officially convert to Catholicism a well known Italian Moslem journalist on Easter, one of the holiest days of the Christian calendar, in front of millions of people. While the Vatican proclaimed the innocence of this international act it is not surprising that the reactions were swift and harsh. On all sides opinions were predictable with every opinion containing a partial truth that ignored, either consciously or unconsciously, other truths. First was the Catholic Church's official truth. The Vatican claimed that converting a very popular journalist, who admittedly had long left Islam and embraced Catholicism, was a purely innocent act by the Pope with no ulterior motives except to bring a new person into the faith. This is naïve at best and Machiavellian at worst for there is no choice by the Pope to publicly convert anyone, on Easter Sunday no less, that is anything but a well calculated act saturated with meaning. The Pope surely knew that his claim was at best a half truth. The other truth that is so obvious, whether admitted or not, is that the Church wanted to teach a sociological and spiritual truth to millions of people who are adherents of Islam, the world religion with a strand which is presently the most damaged, extremist, and violent in the world, that people's freedom of choice regarding religion is the new reality. Religions now need to peacefully compete in the world religious and spiritual marketplace of ideas and Catholicism can compete and so has converted a popular journalist raised as a Moslem who decided to become a Catholic. The Vatican's pretense that this was a neutral act above any political fray is less than one hundred percent truthful. Second we have our secular fundamentalists. These are the people who have a visceral hate for anything having to do with religion and often have a particular animus for Catholicism in general and this Pope in particular. Besides seeing all religions as primitive superstition that dupe people and create division and hate, they see a Catholic Church whose absolutism drives it, in the midst of a very complex and difficult conflict with Islam, to rub the face of Islam into the ground by publicly converting a born Mulsim to Catholicism. The Pope and Islam: Let's Stop Kidding Each Other
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galantarie	Magdi Cristiano Allam	#611	[url]	[-]
Member Posts: 4362 04/09/08 16:18:22 Member	Converts ALWAYS come into the fold on EASTER VIGIL MASS! Non-Catholics do not understand this. The gentleman-journalist, Magdi Allam, is a parishoner in Rome, who loves Our Pope.. Cannot this be a personal act of free-will, and NOT an anti-Islamic Statement by Pope Benedict??? He adores Our Holy Father; and it was his most profound wish to be baptized by him...something he will never forget. NEWS REPORT: Spanish Security Lacking for Islam Convert By Jesús Colina ROME, 09APRIL 2008 (Zenit.org).- The Italian embassy in Spain confirmed the cancellation of a public appearance in Madrid by a convert from Islam baptized Holy Saturday by Benedict XVI, citing a lack of security. Magdi Cristiano Allam, deputy director of Corriere della Sera, one of Italy's largest and oldest newspapers, has been condemned to death by various fatwas from Islamic extremists. The Italian embassy in Spain confirmed to ZENIT that due to the security situation, Allam will participate by videoconference in the event organized by the University CEU St. Paul, presenting his first book translated to Spanish, "Vencer el Miedo. Mi vida contra el terrorismo islámico y la inconsciencia de Occidente" (Overcoming Fear: My Life Against Islamic Terrorism and Western Unawareness.) The embassy sources explained that they "had asked for the security measures for Magdi Allam from the Spanish government, particularly to the Ministry of External Affairs. The necessary conditions had not been given. Afterward, there was a change of opinion due to the exceptional nature of the case, but by then it was too late." Allam is considering the possibility of publicly presenting another book in Spain, the embassy reported. ________________________________________________________________________________________ Saudi Blogger Releases Christian Version of 'Fitna' The recent film "Fitna" by the controversial Dutch politician Geert Wilders was seen by many as an attack on Islam. Now a Saudi blogger has created a film featuring violent texts from the Bible, with the intention of showing that stereotyping can go both ways. A new online movie provides a response to Geert Wilders' "Fitna." A Saudi blogger has produced an online movie mocking the recent anti-Islamic film by Dutch politician Geert Wilders (more...), using the Bible and Christian extremists as the subject matter rather than the Koran and Muslims. The film "Schism" by Raed Al-Saeed, 33, is a little over six minutes in length and can be viewed on the Internet video portal YouTube. The film takes verses from the Bible promoting violence, killing and war and intersperses them with provocative images. These images include a hand-held video of soldiers beating unarmed boys in Iraq as the original recording's English-speaking narrator expresses sadistic satisfaction. Another series of images focus on a female evangelical preacher urging children to kill for their religion as well as the children speaking proudly about being "trained" to be part of "God's Army." "Schism" responds to "Fitna," a 15-minute film by the Dutch right-wing populist politician Geert Wilders which was released on the Internet last month. That film interposes images of the terrorist attacks in New York and Madrid with verses from the Koran and headlines reporting Islamist violence. Although "Fitna" has been condemned by many Muslims and has sparked demonstrations, such as those with an estimated 25,000 participants (more...) in Pakistan earlier this week, reactions so far have generally been weaker than many observers anticipated. At the end of his film, Al-Saeed draws a parallel between his film and that of Wilders. The penultimate screen image reads: "It is easy to take parts of any Holy (sic) book that are out of content (sic) and make it sound like the most inhuman book ever written. That is what Geert Wilders did to gather more supporters to his hateful ideology. To create schism." Al-Saeed told the English-language Saudi newspaperArab News Thursday that he made the film in less than 24 hours in order to demonstrate that Islam should not be judged by watching "Fitna," which he believes gives a distorted view of Islam. He added that he believed "Fitna" was "based on hate" and reflects Wilders' "racism and hatred." According to Arab News, Al-Saeed's video was posted on March 1 on YouTube. Administrators allegedly took it down, but Al-Saeed reportedly convinced the site's administrators to allow it back up, arguing that letting "Fitna" remain when his film was not available would be unfair. A number of similar films on YouTube share the same -- if not occasionally more graphic -- content and even title. Numerous parodies of "Fitna" are also available on the site. jtw/dpa Last Edited By: galantarie 04/10/08 11:55:25. Edited 2 times.
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Pope Benedict and Islam

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Saudi Blogger Releases Christian Version of 'Fitna'