A story about this interview. From the Sydney Morning Herald, with thanks to Allah Pundit:
THE country's most influential Catholic has offended Islamic leaders for the second time in a month by declaring Islam more warlike than Christianity.Australia had not been much changed by the rising Islamic threat after September 11, 2001, the Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell, said. But this could change depending "on how many terrorist attacks" Islamic extremists could "bring off successfully".
"The million-dollar question" was whether intolerance was a modern distortion of Islam or arose out of internal logic.
"It's difficult to find periods of tolerance in Islam. I'm not saying they're not there, but a good deal of what is asserted is mythical."...
Keysar Trad of the Islamic Friendship Association said Dr Pell's statement showed he had no understanding of Islam.
And neither do legions of contemporary Muslims, evidently.
The good cardinal is aspiring to be a martyr, no doubt.
Three cheers for Cardinal Pell. Too many of Islam's claims are not backed up with evidence. Was Islam spread peacefully? If so why did they send large well supplied armies? There is no easy explanation for all the exhortations to violence in the English language translations of the Koran. Violence is violence. Yes, Jesus cursed a fig tree, but I don't see him suggesting that infidels be killed.
There was at least one period of tolerance that I know of. The period prior to the birth of Mohammad.
Cardinal Pell is truly a witness for Christ, this very day after Pentecost.
Once again, God bless Cardinal Pell.
I wish he would do something to educate the priests in Sydney though..perhaps an email suggesting some reading material on Islam.
I spoke to another Catholic priest about Isam recently, asking him what he thought of Islam.
To my horror, he described Islam as.
"a beautiful religion".
ARRGG!!
Not sure whether he honestly believed that or was just being PC...suspect the latter.
I tried to set him straight with some history.
He gave me the impression he just wanted to get along and not stir up any negative feelings.
One thing he said to me is, "but there are many good muslims, what do we do about those?", as if I was advocating genocide.
I'm not advocating genocide, just quarantine...then let it die a natural death in isolation from civilized humanity.
Yes! Finally a Western Church leader of some power finally tells the truth and ask the right questions.I know some powerful Christians of non-Western backgrounds have spoken out such as Arch-bishop Akinola of the Anglcian church of Nigeria or Bishop Nazir Ali Bishop of Rochester. Which is excellent in and of itself, but it is know excellent to have strong Western voices joining them and rejecting the prevailing consensus in the West that Islam is ever so wonderfull Cardinal Pell has my respect on this issue , unlike the other Western church leaders such as Rowan Williams or John Thomas the friend of Mr. Madhi Bray. Blessings on all religous leaders Eastern, Western, first world and thrid world , Christian and non-Christian who are or will confront Islam, as they will need it. There is no such thing as risk free -criticism and engagement with Islam.
Is "intolerance... a modern distortion of Islam"? Just look at how many Jihads mohammed led personally and how many he planned. Islam has always beeen spread by the sword. Nothing new here. No distortion of Mohammed's original words. Just business (war, murder, terrorism, extortion, rape, pillage, slavery, conquest, etc.,) as usual.
Cardinal Pell's heroic and courageous witness is such a blessing for Australia. I know we have some great Cardinal's in the U.S.A., one that immediatly comes to mind is Cardinal Rigali of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.
I hope this begins long overdue dialogue on this issue among Catholics. It is certianly needed, many of us Catholics live in a little bubble within our local parishes and can't seem to look outside of it.
When I spent a month in London about 2 years ago, I heard a joke among some of the reporters I met: "If we don't write 'Islam is a religion of peace', they'll kill us". According to these guys, this is a joke told behind closed doors that would be denied in public. Of course, they knew it wasn't a joke.
What this tells me is that many in the Western Mainstream Press know they are being cowards. They may be able to fool themselves, but they know it deep down.
So much for the "brave" reporter risking all to expose the "system". Reporters are considered "brave" when they write about the supposed "hatred" and violence within Christianity. Hammering Christianity, as Dan Brown has found, is about the safest thing in the world. Christians will fight back by debating the facts of history. Muslim will cut your head off.
Cardinal Pell has the ear of the Prime Minister. A good thing.
He was also in the running to be elected Pope so that gives an indication of his world-wide respect.
Keysar Trad should not be included in the same paragraph. If you do a search on him, he is qite awful! He has taken it upon himself to be the spokesperson for Australian muslims, which he is not.
I hope many people take note of Cardinal Pell.
He is right on the money.
After having checked a lot of local news sites not many papers are publishing this story.
I have only seen it on SkyNews and the source as shown above.
Yep,,there are plenty of left-wing dhimmis in OZ!
'Keysar Trad of the Islamic Friendship Association said Dr Pell's statement showed he had no understanding of Islam'.
On the contrary, it shows that Cardinal Pell understands Islam only too well. And he must have the backing of the Vatican for his statements.
Anyone wishing to know about The True Colours of Trad, (welfare-sponging enemy of Australia)please go to this site:
http://worldwar111.blogspot.com/2006/03/who-is-keysar-trad.html
I am just in awe of Pell, and by extension Pope Benedict XVI. I have no doubt the Pope is behind this. Remember Reagan and John Paul II? From the article linked below:
On June 7, 1982...Reagan...met alone with the pope in the Vatican. Richard Allen, Reagan's first national security adviser, says the two men "agreed to undertake a clandestine campaign to hasten the dissolution of the communist empire." Until it was legalized in 1989, Poland's Solidarity union was kept alive by the U.S. and the Vatican. Solidarity leader Lech Walesa, who later became president of free Poland, has said that "we owe our freedom to their unstinting efforts."
http://www.opinionjournal.com/diary/?id=110005181
To "hello123," when you met the journalists in London who joked about having to write that Islam is a religion of peace, do you recall which media outlets they worked for? Just curious.
George Pell is in great danger here. What is the easiest way to bring down a Catholic cleryman ? Yes, throw child abuse mud at him. Left wing, gay and porn advocates have already tried on two occasions to silence Pell in this manner. I fully expect the muslims to join in with others for a third attempt.
Pell's Legatus Summit paper discussed here a month or so ago was a breath of fresh air on the problem of Islam and Western Democracies (if you did not catch it, it is at sydney.catholic.org.au). He is in complete agreement with Benedict XVI, particulalarly the Pope's books before the papal election - "without Roots" by Ratzinger and Pera; and "Christianity and the Crisis of Cultures" by Ratzinger.
Both Pell and Ratzinger are particularly concerned with Europe's secular relativism, approaching paganism in some respects, paralysis of the mind and lack of faith, and the wide open door this is creating for militant Islam.
An excellent paper on Benedict XVI's views is "When Civilizations Meet: How Joseph Ratzinger sees Islam", by Samir Khali Samir, on www.chiesa.expressonline.it.
George Cardinal Pell clearly takes his responsibilities as a Prince of the Roman Catholic Church deadly seriously.
Did you guys notice too that in his interview he didn't adhere to the notion that the Judeo/Christian God is the same as Allah.
All he conceded was that muslims profess a single deity. Other than that, he didn't see any commonalities.
Oh, Mr. Spencer, did you ever post on the nicknames that the prophet gave his weapons?
If so, I'd like to read it.
While I welcome a clear stance on Islam, I do not see why there should be this beauty contest between Islam and a religion.
Islam wants to define the laws. This is why Islam is not a religion, it is a political doctrine and stands in opposistion to the secular state, not in opposition to religions.
FreeSpeech: if that is so, why is that Muslims persecute Christians... and Jews... and Baha'is... and Hindus... and Buddhists... and Ahmadiyyas... and African Animists... gee, you might almost think that their violence has something to do with religion!
Twit.
Kaffirchick,
Daily Telegraph.
Hello123 - that is rather surprising, considering that the Daily Telegraph is the one daily in London with something approaching to cojones where Muslims are concerned. Perhaps that is why your journalists actually bring themselves to say these things; if they were Guardian or, even worse, Independent employees, they would long since have lobotomized any such rebellious thoughts away from their brains.
Cardinal Pell is becoming a favorite among traditional thinking Christians, especially Catholics. Many are concerned about those who stick their heads in the sand concerning radical Islam. CatholicReport.org is one of the few sites besides this one that reports on issues such as this.
on ninemsn/Australia
Pell 'keen to provoke Islam debate'
Tuesday Jun 6 18:59 AEST
Australia's most senior Catholic, Cardinal George Pell, would rather provoke debate than have sensible discussions about Muslims, the Islamic Council of NSW (ICNSW) says.
In an interview with a US Catholic newspaper, Dr Pell again declared Islam was more warlike than Christianity.
The Catholic Archbishop of Sydney told the National Catholic Reporter (NCR) Australia hadn't been affected much by Islamic threats following the September 11 terrorist attacks in the US.
But he said this could change depending "on how many terrorist attacks" Muslim fundamentalists could "bring off successfully", Fairfax newspapers reported.
ICNSW spokesman Ali Roude said Dr Pell admitted he knew little about his subject matter.
"However, as a forceful speaker and thinker, sometimes he seems tempted to put a position forward to provoke debate rather than wait for sensible discussion," Mr Roude said in a statement.
In the NCR interview conducted in Rome, Dr Pell said "the million-dollar question" was whether intolerance was a modern distortion of Islam or arose out of internal logic.
"It's difficult to find periods of tolerance in Islam," he was quoted as saying.
"I'm not saying that they're not there, but a good deal of what is asserted is mythical."
It is the second time in a month Dr Pell has made controversial remarks about Islam.
In early April, the religious leader commented that the Koran contained "invocations to violence" and that Islam was an intolerant faith.
Mr Roude said: "When Cardinal Pell asserts that `Islam is a much more war-like culture than Christianity', I must refuse to concede him the point."
"It was Western European Christians who launched the Crusades, who conquered most of the world (including the Muslim majority regions) during the Age of Discovery, who grew strong and wealthy through the exploitation of Muslim peoples under centuries of colonialism, and who still today refuse to engage seriously on the issues of debt relief, disarmament and trade reform," he said.
"Cardinal George Pell, would rather provoke debate than have sensible discussions about Muslims" said the muslim dude..
Yo Aussies, be `sensible´...
"Australia is a former British colony, and people born in the United Kingdom account for the largest proportion of all immigrants, about 24 per cent, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics figures, followed by New Zealand with 9 per cent, Italy with 5 per cent, and China and Vietnam with 4 per cent each.
But immigration from less traditional sources is growing faster, with war-torn countries providing the largest increases from 1996 to 2005. Sudan showed the most growth, with Afghanistan accounting for the next highest increase."
source:ninemsn.com
refuse to engage seriously on the issues of debt relief, disarmament and trade reform," he said. -- according to Ali Roude in post by cosmicAvenger at 4:49.
Hey I've got an idea for debt relief: let's cancel all the debts banks owe the Saudis and use the money for paying off third world debts and credit card debt from buying $3/gallon gas. (Many of those bank accounts are probably paying Sharia-prohibited interest so we'd be helping them become more observant).
"It's difficult to find periods of tolerance in Islam. I'm not saying they're not there, but a good deal of what is asserted is mythical."...
I like this guy.
My sentiments exactly Bohemond:
let's remember this quote (a good deal of what is asserted is mythical) when we are told about "Muslim advances in science in the middle ages" etc.
Guys
I am from India, Yesterday in the news, The mulim patriots of India wants a ban on th 100 yeard old National Song.
I am really very hurt at their demand, how can they be so rude...I know that muslims are the worst people to live along with but from what does they get this rude and unyeilding behaviour to ask for a ban on everythig and anythign that they dont like that to in a country where they are a minority.....
I guess when they breed well to even 30 to 40% I can see the temples being blown up frequently...
The World heritage site of AJanta and Ellora were recently saved by cracking a plot to blow them up...
Multicultaralism is a bane for any society.Secularism renders our societies fragile and prosperity cannot last on a fragile society...
Chinese are best placed in the 21st century rather than any other country becuase they ae almost all are huns....
Varma writes: "I am from India, Yesterday in the news, The muslim patriots of India wants a ban on th 100 yeard old National Song."
I'll bet India got the Muslims angry when India sings the National Song on each anniversary of the 9-11 attacks, as part of their way to show their solidarity with the U.S.
And we all know what happens when Muslims get angry.
By the way: Next time, please put the phrase "muslim patriots" in quotes. Islamic terrorism I'm familiar with. Islamic patriotism I've seen very few examples of.