Well, I downloaded the Pope's statement that is causing all the excitement, and I've concluded that it must be the statement set forth in the blog post below that set off the Muslims. Only one page of the seven-page speech mentions Islam, and that one page mentions Islam in either neutral or kindly terms. The only inflammatory statement is the quote mentioned in my previous post.
The statement was a quote of someone else, a 14th century Byzantine emperor. Benedict XVI didn't endorse the quote. He merely mentioned it in the context of discussing the fundamental disconnect between violence and religion. The only "wrong" the pope committed was quoting the 650-year-old emperor's inflammatory allegation. I concede that the quote wasn't necessary to get Benedict's point across, but it was still just a quote from someone else, given in the context of painting the scene of a dialogue that makes a larger point.
The Muslims need to lighten up . . . a lot. If they stopped taking themselves so seriously, the rest of us could take them seriously.
