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Pope calls for condemnation of those who “pervert” religion to justify violence

Sep 21, 2014 2:40 pm By Robert Spencer

Pope with Albanian MuslimsActually, there are plenty of condemnations. Many Muslim organizations worldwide have condemned the Islamic State. What we don’t see are actual organized efforts by Muslim leaders to teach Muslims to reject the understanding of Islam that the Islamic State represents. If all the condemnations were sincere, we would see more direct action against the Islamic State and its influence, no?

“Pope in Albania Urges Muslims to Condemn Extremism,” by Llazar Semini and Nicole Winfield, Associated Press, September 21, 2014 (thanks to all who sent this in):

Pope Francis called Sunday for Muslims and all religious leaders to condemn Islamic extremists who “pervert” religion to justify violence, as he visited Albania and held up the Balkan nation as a model for interfaith harmony for the rest of the world.

“To kill in the name of God is a grave sacrilege. To discriminate in the name of God is inhuman,” Francis told representatives of Albania’s Muslim, Orthodox and Catholic communities during a half-day visit to Tirana in which he recalled the brutal persecution people of all faiths suffered under communism.

Francis wept when he heard the testimony of one priest, the Rev. Ernest Troshani, 84, who for 28 years was imprisoned, tortured and sentenced to forced labor for refusing to speak out against the Catholic Church as his captors wanted.

“Today I touched the martyrs,” Francis said after embracing the man.

Security was unusually tight for the pope’s first trip to a majority Muslim country since the Islamic State group began its crackdown on Christians in Iraq and announced its aim to extend its self-styled caliphate to Rome. The trip was preceded by reports that militants who trained in Iraq and Syria had returned and might pose a threat.

The Vatican insisted it had no reports of specific threats against the pope and that no special security measures were taken. But Francis’ interactions with the crowds were much reduced compared to his previous foreign trips. His open-topped vehicle sped down Tirana’s main boulevard, not stopping once for Francis to greet the faithful as is his norm.

He only kissed a few babies at the very end of the route, and then left quickly after his Mass ended. Snipers dotted rooftops along the route, military helicopters flew overhead and uniformed Albanian police formed human chains to keep the crowds at bay behind barricades. Francis’ own bodyguards stood guard on the back of his car or jogged alongside.

In his opening speech, Francis told President Bujar Nishani, Albanian officials and the diplomatic corps that Albania’s interreligious harmony was an “inspiring example” for the world, showing that Christian-Muslim coexistence wasn’t only possible but beneficial for a country’s development.

“This is especially the case in these times in which authentic religious spirit is being perverted by extremist groups,” he said.

“Let no one consider themselves to be the ‘armor’ of God while planning and carrying out acts of violence and oppression!” Francis said in the wood-paneled reception room of Tirana’s presidential palace.

Muslims make up about 59 percent of Albania’s population, with Catholics amounting to 10 percent and Orthodox Christians just under that, according to the country’s official figures. Muslims and Christians govern together and interfaith families are common, thanks to the near-quarter century when religion was banned under communism.

Addressing Muslim and other religious leaders at a Catholic university, Francis said religious intolerance was a “particularly insidious enemy” that was evident in many parts of the world today.

“All believers must be particularly vigilant so that, in living out with conviction our religious and ethical code, we may always express the mystery we intend to honor,” he said. “This means that all those forms which present a distorted use of religion must be firmly refuted as false since they are unworthy of God or humanity.”

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Filed Under: Albania, Catholic Church, Jihad doctrine, Moderate Muslims Tagged With: featured


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Comments

  1. Ragai Mitry says

    Sep 21, 2014 at 2:57 pm

    The Pope said: “To kill in the name of God is a grave sacrilege. To discriminate in the name of God is inhuman”

    But those teachings are the VERY CORE of Islam. The Pope must learn some basic elements of Islam, otherwise he sounds ignorant and foolish.

    • TH says

      Sep 21, 2014 at 7:19 pm

      He does seem to be learning something about Islam. Compared to previous statements there does seem to be some progress in his understanding (or rather lack of it) regarding Islam.
      It is true that Albanian Muslims are the least prone to jihad compared to all the others wold wide.

  2. Salah says

    Sep 21, 2014 at 2:58 pm

    “To kill in the name of God is a grave sacrilege. To discriminate in the name of God is inhuman,”

    Translation: Islam is inhuman.

    http://crossmuslims.blogspot.com/2012/10/infidel.html

  3. Angemon says

    Sep 21, 2014 at 3:22 pm

    ““To kill in the name of God is a grave sacrilege. To discriminate in the name of God is inhuman,” Francis told representatives of Albania’s Muslim, Orthodox and Catholic communities during a half-day visit to Tirana in which he recalled the brutal persecution people of all faiths suffered under communism.”

    Well, that’s marginally better than “Authentic Islam and the proper reading of the Koran are opposed to every form of violence”. I think Mr. Spencer should send Pope Francis a copy of some of his books.

    • TH says

      Sep 21, 2014 at 7:20 pm

      He does seem to be learning something about Islam. Compared to previous statements there does seem to be some progress in his understanding (or rather lack of it) regarding Islam.
      It is true that Albanian Muslims are the least prone to jihad compared to all the others wold wide.

  4. Beagle says

    Sep 21, 2014 at 3:39 pm

    To kill in the name of God is a grave sacrilege. To discriminate in the name of God is inhuman,”
    — —
    Depends on what your definition of “God” is.

    Quran 9.111
    Sahih International
    “Indeed, Allah has purchased from the believers their lives and their properties [in exchange] for that they will have Paradise. They fight in the cause of Allah , so they kill and are killed. [It is] a true promise [binding] upon Him in the Torah and the Gospel and the Qur’an. And who is truer to his covenant than Allah ? So rejoice in your transaction which you have contracted. And it is that which is the great attainment.”
    — —

    You know we’re in deep trouble when a guy like me still sitting in his pajamas from the day before can debunk the greatest Christian spiritual leader with one quote after a 25 second Internet search. And despite this, nothing will change in terms of the West’s cultural suicide and deep denial when it comes to Islam.

    • Jaladhi says

      Sep 21, 2014 at 3:58 pm

      With the Western leaders talking like brain dead, we are all in deep doo doo!

  5. Jaladhi says

    Sep 21, 2014 at 3:41 pm

    Oh, now even Pope is on the band wagon to condemn those who pervert religion to justify violence. Maybe he needs aquick primer on Quran!! You think he visits “Jihadwatch” site??? If does, he wouldn’t be talking like this. I think the West and nations like India are digging their own grave by such nonsensical talk!!

  6. Soloview says

    Sep 21, 2014 at 4:28 pm

    Extremist Muslim – someone who wants to kill you.
    Moderate Muslim – someone who wants the Extremist Muslim to kill you.

    • Aardvark says

      Sep 22, 2014 at 6:16 am

      Nice one, Soloview!

  7. mortimer says

    Sep 21, 2014 at 4:31 pm

    MANY, but not all, Jesuits (such as Father Henri Boulad SJ of Alexandria) are CLUELESS about Islam. Pope Francis is CLUELESS about Islam.

    Pope Francis should invite Father Henri Boulad of Alexandria to CLUE HIM IN!

  8. mortimer says

    Sep 21, 2014 at 4:34 pm

    Islamism is not a caricature, nor a counterfeit, nor a heresy, nor a fringe or atypical phenomenon versus classical, orthodox, Sunnite Islam.

    To the contrary, I think Islamism is naked Islam, Islam without a mask and without paint, Islam perfectly consistent and true to itself, an Islam that has the courage and lucidity to go all the way to its ultimate conclusions and final implications.
    Islamism is Islam in all its logic and in all its rigour. Islamism is present in Islam as the chick is present in the egg, as the fruit is present in the flower and as the tree is present in the seed.

    – Fr Henri Boulad SJ

  9. Jerry says

    Sep 21, 2014 at 5:17 pm

    If the pope follows his own reasoning then he should include the Plunderer for Profit and self proclaimed (fake) Prophet in such condemnation.

  10. Robbie says

    Sep 21, 2014 at 8:54 pm

    The pope would know all about perversion haha.

  11. Bonnie Loranger says

    Sep 22, 2014 at 8:44 am

    This pope is a PC jerk.

  12. joeblough says

    Sep 22, 2014 at 9:37 am

    You would think that the Pope would have heard of Satan and devil-worship at some point.

  13. Gardener says

    Sep 27, 2014 at 3:34 am

    False equivalence. It isn’t about what individual Muslims or Christians or Hindus do but about the teachings of different religions. In other words, you are barking up the wrong tree.

    It is not the fault of anyone here that Islam teaches that non-Muslims must be humiliated and subjugated, or that it is legal to take the girls and women of the enemy as war booty and use them as sex slaves, or that it is good to murder those who undermine Islam under Islamic law, or that it is perfectly fine to marry a prepubescent girl. Islam is what Islam teaches in its own texts. Naturally, it doesn’t mean every Muslim follows Islamic doctrine to the letter. Just like most Christians don’t follow the instruction about love (charity) to the extreme and just like most nominal Christians ignore the teachings about sex, a lot of Muslims don’t follow what Islam teaches about war and the non-Muslims and a great number of other things. Individuals are going to be individuals. Islam is problematic because of what it teaches by the absolute immutable word of Allah in the Qur’an. Stop confusing the actions of individuals with the teachings of religions. They are not the same thing.

    The actions of individuals must be evaluated in context with the teachings of the religion. If the actions accord with the religion, it means the actions are justified and encouraged by the religion. If they don’t accord, it means the individual is to blame and not the religion. A lot of what the Islamic State does is perfectly valid Islam as they model themselves after early Islam and the example of Muhammad and his companions. There is no point-by-point refutation of the actions and teachings of the Islamic State by any mainstream group of Muslims. The only arguments against them are strategic disagreements, blanket condemnations (with no proofs from Islamic scripture), or nitpicking about something specific, but nothing that comes close to refuting the actual Islamic teachings the Islamic State propagates.

    As for the Inquisition, are you aware that fewer people died in all the years of the notorious Spanish Inquisition than in the 9/11 terror attacks? The intensity of the Inquisition was small beans in comparison with the ferocious persecutions carried out by the Islamic fanatics in Iraq and Syria in the last four months alone. The correspondence between the Inquisition and the teachings and example of Jesus Christ is also very vague in comparison with the clear correspondence between the actions of the Islamic State and the teachings and example of Muhammad.

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