Muslim apostate to Christianity, Magdi Allam, who was recently baptized by the Pope asks the latter to "make a pronouncement in 'a clear and binding way' on the question of whether Islam is a valid religion." In olden days, no Christian, let alone pope, would've had any difficulties answering this question -- just as no Muslim today would have any problems answering this question if directed at Christianity. At any rate, how does the Pope see Islam? Better yet, how does the typical Christian, or follower of any other faith, see Islam? How do atheists and secularists see it? If all such people (the vast majority of humanity, i.e., the non-Islamic world) believe Muhammad was not a "prophet," what was he? If the Koran was not revealed from Gabriel, based on the verbatim words of Allah, what is it? Honest answers to oneself regarding such otherwise taboo questions will in and of themselves go a long way in explaining the state of affairs of the Islamic world.
"Muslim convert to Catholicism tells pope Islam is not inherently good," by Cindy Wooden for the Catholic News, October 29:
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Muslim-born journalist baptized by Pope Benedict XVI at Easter asked the pope to tell his top aide for relations with Muslims that Islam is not an intrinsically good religion and that Islamic terrorism is not the result of a minority gone astray.How about the salvation of souls? The concept of truth? Apparently these now take a backseat to temporal cooperation -- in word only, too.As the Vatican was preparing to host the first meeting of the Catholic-Muslim Forum Nov. 4-6, Magdi Allam, a longtime critic of the Muslim faith of his parents, issued an open letter to Pope Benedict that included criticism of Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue.
In the letter, posted on his Web site Oct. 20, Allam said he wanted to tell the pope of his concern for "the serious religious and ethical straying that has infiltrated and spread within the heart of the church."
He told the pope that it "is vital for the common good of the Catholic Church, the general interest of Christianity and of Western civilization itself" that the pope make a pronouncement in "a clear and binding way" on the question of whether Islam is a valid religion.
The Catholic Church's dialogue with Islam is based on the Second Vatican Council's Declaration on the Relationship of the Church to Non-Christian Religions ("Nostra Aetate"), which urged esteem for Muslims because "they adore the one God," strive to follow his will, recognize Jesus as a prophet, honor his mother, Mary, "value the moral life and worship God especially through prayer, almsgiving and fasting."
The council called on Catholics and Muslims "to work sincerely for mutual understanding" and for social justice, moral values, peace and freedom.
Allam told Pope Benedict he specifically objected to Cardinal Tauran telling a conference in August that Islam itself promotes peace but that "'some believers' have 'betrayed their faith,'" using it as a pretext for violence."The objective reality, I tell you with all sincerity and animated by a constructive intent, is exactly the opposite of what Cardinal Tauran imagines," Allam told the pope. "Islamic extremism and terrorism are the mature fruit" of following "the sayings of the Quran and the thought and action of Mohammed."...
If the "Vicar of Christ on Earth" does not rise to the occasion and speak the truth about Islam, what hope will there be that the average Catholic or layperson will understand what those of us who have made an effort to discover already know?
Refreshing to read this. Finally, a voice of reason and truth outside of this website.
Wow; brave man. If I were a praying woman, I'd sure be praying for Magdi Allam's safety.
But I'm sure he's made his peace with the fact that speaking his mind about Islam, not to mention converting away from The Religion of Peace (NOT), he has signed his death warrant.
(If those of aforementioned "religion" have their way, that is.)
Mr Allam is right to join the ranks of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Wafa Sultan and the few other courageous apostates of Islam, in order to denounce the irrevocable fact that Muslims use excerpts from Mein Qurampf to justify their acts of violence against the so-called infidels and obtain support and legitimacy from their co-religionists for their actions.
The question now is, will many people care to listen? Or will they simply dismiss Mr Allam as another "islamophobe", just as they try to dismiss other apostates and scholars like Robert Spencer?
And could they dismiss Mr Allam's warnings without ever addressing the fact that, unless the excerpts of Mein Qurampf that incite Muslims to fight against those who haven't converted or submitted to the will of allah (the imaginary) are rejected or denounced, the West has no choice but to fight back if it is to survive as we know it?
"Ye shall know them by their fruits"
CT YANKEE you are right! Cristiano Allam has indeed cited the Gospel phrase Jesus used to warn us of judging the trees --- we will know He said by the fruit they bear.
Alas, as a Roman Catholic of 53 years, I have seen over the course of my life the bad fruit generated by those in service to this Age rather than the true God. These are the kumbaya katholics ready to compromise any doctrine, indeed the entire deposit of faith, for some gushy wushy "peace and goodwill". It is a false peace because it is born of illusion and appeasement.
I'm curious as to what the Pope's immediate response was to Mr. Allam's truths. I keep getting the visual in my mind of the Pope holding his hands to his ears while chanting, na,na,na,na,na,na.
I see Islam as a barbaric, violent, oppressive, blood thirsty, murdering, raping, pedophile, hateful ideology. Those who follow it--the Mohammedans--support this criminal ideology and emulate a moron called Mohammad who was a robber, mass murderer, thug, mass rapist, a liar, the first Islamic terrorist, criminal par excellence, and pedophile. Their heaven is full of carnal pleasures for the Musselman Jihadis fornicating with young prepubescent girls and molesting of young boys.
Women and non Muslims are considered second class citizens. How sick, no wonder looking at the Mohammedan perception of reality there is a great schism between what is normal factual reality of the non Muslims and that of the Mohammedan. As a result of Islam there is a complete psychosis in the minds of the Mohammedans--pure hate of that which is not Islamic--a paranoia and delusion, a sense of ultimate inferiority because of the failure of Islam to fulfill its false promises of ultimate submission of humans to the rule of allah. Moreover, seeing the superior achievement of non Muslims past and present and into the future drives the Mohammedans berserk with hate and rage.
Arab imperialism must prevail is the motto of the army of Mohammedans. A disgusting notion.
Allam's right but why should he have to tell that to the Pope? I thought the Pope was smart, and already knew...
A Tree and Its Fruit
It's been said many times and in many ways, but we've been warned for at least 1,978 years now.
Allam's right but why should he have to tell that to the Pope? I thought the Pope was smart, and already knew...
Posted by: duh_swami
Perhaps the Pope was properly intimidated from his last experience with open dialog, and the....religion of peace™
Islam isn't inherently good? That's an understatement!
Islam teaches Muslims to commit first degree murder(s). Mosques psychologically condition and inculcate Muslims to commit first degree murder(s). Meanwhile the Kuran inspires Muslims to commit first degree murder(s). And then Shariaa't "jurisprudence" legalizes and institutionalizes first degree murder(s) (and a bunch of other horrors too numerous to mention).
Scream bloody murder is more like it!
Pope Benedict knows -- he must -- that Magdi Allam is right. Does he dare to publicly recognize this? He has to keep worrying about the remaining Christians in Muslim countries, which may explain, if it does not justify, some past pronouncements by the Vatican.
He has to keep worrying about the remaining Christians in Muslim countries
Posted by: Hugh
A good point. Wasn't a Nun murdered in one of their endless parades of worldwide tantrums because the Pope forgot his place?
French priests and Italian monks have had their throats slit in the night by Muslim fanatics in Algeria. An elderly Italian priest was killed in Turkey, and a nun in Somalia. And of course all kinds of converts to Christianity have been killed, some of them tortured extensively before death. The other day, at this very website, one saw a convert to Christianity in Somalia, just before he was decapitated. That's what is going on, everywhere in the Lands where Islam dominates and Muslims rule. There is no reason to think it could not happen in Western Europe, if Islam comes to dominate, and Muslims to rule. Or here. Right here.
It is easy to see that the Vatican is bound by the need for diplomacy. In today's world a leader of any kind must tread warily if he is to cover any ground whatever; particularly the Pope, seeing as how he "has no divisions" as the idiot Stalin put it, and would lose both prestige and credibility if he came forward as anything other than a champion of "peace" and "inter-faith amity".
A clear statement of the kind Mr Allam would like to see would be quite consonant with Christian faith, and quite impossible politically. Popes know this.
I must say, though, that fear for the safety of Christians in Muslim countries has a familiar, and somewhat sinister, ring to it. Pope Pius XII is said to have been acting on that kind of fear with respect to Nazi Germany.
At some point, though, Novalis, we are simply going to have to say the truth regardless of the consequences. The Pope must lead by example. All the diplomacy and kowtowing by Christians in those lands of Dar ul Islam have only painted them into the corner of perpetual humiliations, injustice and genocide. Making peace with the religion of peace doesn't work in the end. I ask if more muslims are converted when they witness the truthfulness and bravery of Christians in the face of slaughter than when these so-called diplomatic ventures and dialogs prolong the crises.
May God [the real God, the Liberator of Slaves, YHWH] bless Magdi Cristiano Allam.
He, so newly come to the community of Christians, is saying to Benedict XVI - 'Be what you are! Be a shepherd! Lead us! Teach us! Speak up and tell the truth! Tell the world what I, and others, know for a fact, from personal experience - that Islam - Islam itself, the ideology - is deadly dangerous!'.
Let us all pray most earnestly that Benedict XVI - who has the trained intellect to enable him to do it eloquently and on a basis of impeccable historical and theological scholarship - may hear that passionate plea from this member of his flock, rise to Magdi's challenge and give us an Encyclical... Urbi et Orbe...that will in future stand in history alongside with some of the great statements of the Church Universal, whether Eastern or Western, and that may indeed re-echo beyond the church, in all human communities where the Golden Rule (spurned by Islam) is recognised, where Agreement and Reciprocity and Oathkeeping count for something.
Oh yes dumbledoresarmy! If only he would! I guess he is concerned about the behaviour of Muslims towards religious minorities in Islamic nations. If only there were some way to whisk them to safety.
The Barnabas fund needs support too.
The "Catholic News" doesn't use a capital"H" when referring to God (as in "His will"?) I knew the Anglicans had given up the capital; now the Catholics? It is a small point but it seems, I don't know, isn't it a bit sacrilegious?
Islam is not an intrinsically good religion and that Islamic terrorism is not the result of a minority gone astray.
No kidding! The pope knows this as well as we know it but unless he is prepared to accept responsibility for global riots and rampages by enraged muslim fanatics, he can hardly make a public statement to this effect.
I do not envy Pope Benedict's position. He must do all he can to protect Christians living in predominately muslim lands and he also has a responsibility to Catholics to state the church's position on islam. There must be some way to do both (I have a few ideas) without igniting the wrath of the lunatics.
I forgot to state my urgent plea to the Vatican :
Please talk to Catholic Charities and ask them to cease and desist with their irresponsible "relocation" projects involving thousands of muslim asylum seekers, immigrants, or whatever they call themselves. They are destroying vibrant American neighborhoods and towns, overwhelming their capacity to provide housing, employment, education, and social services to thousands of illiterate, third-world muslims who will not assimilate or even attempt to fit in and make new lives for themselves.
These massive relocation projects are immensely unfair to the local residents and don't seem to be particularly beneficial to the immigrants as they do nothing but complain and make demands. The people with Catholic Charities might not be so charitable if they had to deal with these ingrates on a daily basis. They should all take a few thousand of them to their own towns and move them in next door, hand feed them, and help them build mosques. Even the most generous and charitable among us have limitations on how much we are willing to help people who refuse to help themselves.
Apologies for a small error in my posting above. I wrote 'Urbi et Orbe' when I should have written 'Urbi et Orbi'.
My only excuse is that it is twenty years since I studied classical Latin at a major Australian university. And I am still getting used to the idea that such phrases, if imperfectly remembered, can be checked by means of a little tapping on the keyboard and a few judiciously aimed clicks.
Krazykafir, Hugh's right. This Pope knows what's up. He wrote 'Without Roots' about the Islamic threat back in the 60s. It's not about jihad. It's about the Islamic threat. This is also the same Pope about whom Oriana Fallaci said that he was the only person with whom she felt she could discuss religion, or anything else for that matter, near the end of her life.
God bless Cristiano Allam. This is exactly what needs to happen: people need to question whether or not Islam is even a religion, which it isn't. It can't stand up to even that basic level of scrutiny. I learned this in my 10th-grade morality class at Catholic school. The Church knows this. It always has. It's time to bust out this weapon already. Islam has no more theology than Nazism. There is no relationship with God. God is only a power-hungry pervert's alibi/displaced alter ego. It does not have a single moral teaching. Even 'charity' is a lie, since Muslims are actually forbidden from giving actual charity and do not believe in it as a matter of principle. It's 'alms for jihad,' not 'charity.' History more than proves that this has always been the common understanding of the 4th Pillar in every school of Islam. Perv Mo produced neiter prophecy nor miracles and screwed up every single historical and scientific reference he ever made on the record. Islam deserves no more respect or adulation than any other death-cult for inbred, baby-raping Nazi terrorists. It's history and its number of followers don't legitimate it, not only because that would be logically false, but also because, well, look at Islamic history and look at its followers. They serve as an indictment of Islam more clearly than do the texts themselves. There is nothing tolerable about it and I would love to see the Pope come out and tell everyone. It's time. The Free World needs to hear it. You want Christian unity? You want your Free World back? Bring it, Benny. I'm waiting.
Maimonides called Muhammad a false prophet and "ha meshugga" which means crazy. False prophet means Islam is invalid, a false religion. I hate how it brainwashes people into slaves. Also uses mass hypnosis with its five times per prayers
----{ha-Meshugga, 'the Madman' is what the great medieval Jewish philosopher and physician ... "wicked teachings of Ubul Kassim ha-Meshugga alias 'mohammed'. ...