Islam Meets Catholicism as Muslim Protesters Call for Death of Pope Benedict

Radical Muslims Call For Death of Pope Benedict During His Trip to Britain (Video)
The radical Muslim group “Muslims Against Crusaders” protested against Pope Benedict during his trip to Great Britain. The radicals chanted, “Pope Benedict you will pay!” and “Watch your back!” during their hate-filled rally last week. From the Video: The slaves of Allah confront the slave of Satan - Pope Benedict XVI at a demonstration in London. Saturday 18 September 2010. Newsreal Blog has more on the disgusting Protesters: Muslim...

Pope Benedict Calls Christians to Protect Human Life From Abortion, Euthanasia
London, England (LifeNews.com) -- During his visit to England, Pope Benedict XVI called on Christians worldwide to do more to protect human life from Abortion and euthanasia. He issued a clarion call for Christians and all people to promote the Pro-Life ethic and respect for the worth of every human being. Pope Benedict, speaking at a residence for the elderly, said, "Life is a unique gift, at every stage from conception until natural death and it is God’s alone to...

Tea and Sympathy: Pope Benedict XVI's British Tour Ends as Surprise Success
Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Great Britain was dubbed his most difficult mission yet. But he scored points with Brits with his simple gestures and clear messages. The Vatican is describing the trip as "a spiritual success." It was his 17th trip abroad and on Sunday evening Pope Benedict XVI likely felt relief as he flew back towards Rome. After all, The Pope's historic visit to Great Britain had surpassed the gloomy predictions made ahead of his four-day trip. Britons' skepticism waned and...

Vote for Seals because Dold is a bad Jew?
No one should be expected to adhere to the requirements of a religion he doesn't practice or believe in. There, I said it. » Click to enlarge image Neil Steinberg Let the chips fall where they may. Catholics shouldn't have to keep Kosher. Muslims shouldn't have to get baptized. Jews shouldn't be compelled to put on Easter bonnets and go to Church. You're with me here, right? I haven't Left you behind with my crazy Left-wing notions, have I? None of you is holding the paper in your...

How did the pope play in Britain?
British media Monday hailed Pope Benedict XVI for shedding his distant and authoritarian image on his historic state visit, but cautioned the Catholic Church still faced challenges in the nation. The pontiff succeeded in presenting himself as a lovable, elderly figure -- a far cry from the "Rottweiler" image, they said. "What the visit accomplished above all was to unify Catholics and humanise a Pope who has so often been perceived as cold, aloof and authoritarian," wrote Catherine Pepinster,...

Protesting the Pope Like It's A.D. 1054
Not everyone who showed up to Protest Pope Benedict’s visit to the UK were secularists. At least one Eastern Orthodox gentleman joined in to send the pontiff a message : It wasnt really a poster; it more like Magic Marker theology on a pizza box. And a young man named Toby Guise was happy to explain where, in his opinion, the Catholic Church had gone wrong. Filioque means And the Son, and refers to a centuries-old debate between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches, about...

2010 Vote Seen as More Important Than Most
About two-thirds of the Public sees coverage of this year’s Elections as focused primarily on strategy and conflict rather than Candidate positions, while a comparable percentage says the 2010 congressional Elections are more important than most. Nearly six-in-ten (58%) say news coverage of politics makes them angry. Still, few (36%) say Election news makes them feel depressed. More than half (55%) say this year’s Elections have been "pretty interesting", according to the latest...

`Deeply embarrassed' Pa. governor shuts down intelligence reports on peaceful protesters
Harrisburg, PA. — An embarrassed Gov. Ed Rendell apologized Tuesday to groups whose peaceful Protests or events, from an Animal Rights demonstration to a gay and Lesbian festival, were the subject of regular anti-terrorism bulletins being distributed by his Homeland Security director. Rendell said that the information was useless to Law Enforcement agencies and that distributing it was tantamount to trampling on Constitutional Rights. Bulletins also went to members of Pennsylvania's...

Lutfur Rahman: Galloway jets in
George Galloway (Photo: PA) Funniest news of the week so far is the solemn communique on the (surely satirical) Socialist Unity website that, now Lutfur Rahman has been sacked from the Labour candidacy for Tower Hamlets mayor, George Galloway “dramatically returned to London last night” for a “lengthy meeting with his closest advisers” about being the Respect Candidate. There are two excellent reasons why it is rather unlikely that the Gorgeous One will stand. First, he...

Protester Holds Up Copy Of "U.S.S Constitution" To Prove That Congress Can't Regulate Health Care (VIDEO)
Think Progress catches an amusing moment at a seemingly virulent Protest against Health Care reform. At one point, a Protester brandishes a copy of what he calls the "U.S.S. Constitution" in order to prove the false idea that the Federal Government doesn't have the right to regulate Health Care. Think Progress has more on this new false talking point about Health Care. Watch the video of the Protest below: Protester: Right here. I got a book here called the U.S.S. Constitution. I'm sure...

Italian Police Probe Vatican Bank Officials
Tuesday, September 21, 2010 By Staff, Associated Press Vatican City (AP) - Just when the Catholic Church didn't need another Scandal, Italian authorities have seized euro23 million ($30.18 million) from a Vatican Bank Account and begun investigating Top Officials of the Vatican Bank in connection with a Money Laundering Probe. The Vatican said Tuesday it was "perplexed and surprised" by the investigation. Italian Financial Police seized the Money as a precaution Tuesday and prosecutors...

Men released after allegedly threatening Pope
Six men who were arrested after British Police said threats were made against The Pope have been released without charges. Police in London arrested the men Friday on "suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of Terrorism." They were all released Saturday night and Sunday morning, Police said. The men were arrested while Pope Benedict XVI was on a four-day tour of Ireland and England. Your Comments The Pope and the queen in one place.....a useless inbread meddler and the...

Pope's visit: No apology from aide who called Britain third world country
Pope's visit: No Apology from aide who called Britain Third World country Cardinal Walter Kasper, who skipped papal visit to the UK, is not planning to say sorry, says spokesman German cardinal Walter Kasper smiling broadly. The Pope's aide has attracted criticism for comments likening the UK to a 'Third World country'. Photograph: Paolo Cocco/AFP Cardinal Walter Kasper, the senior Catholic who prompted controversy on the eve of Pope Benedict's visit by comparing Britain to a Third World...

News about Newman
Posted by Mollie On the final day of his United Kingdom trip, Pope Benedict XVI formally beatified English theologian and apologist Cardinal John Henry Newman. Let’s look at some of the stories about Newman. NPR’s excellent religion reporter Barbara Bradley Hagerty had a piece speculating that Newman was gay. I thought it a completely bizarre approach for the main story the news outlet chose to report on the man. The piece itself acknowledges, eventually, that there’s no...

Pope issues new green message for world's Catholics
An Arctic coastline yesterday where the sea is usually still frozen at this time of year. The Vatican has added its voice to concerns over Global Warming. Photograph: Francois Lenoir/Reuters The Vatican yesterday added its voice to a rising chorus of warnings from churches around the world that Climate Change and abuse of the environment is against God's will, and that the one Billion-strong Catholic Church must become far greener. At a Vatican conference on Climate Change, Pope Benedict urged...

Pope's Spectacular Success in Britain
In a damp Birmingham park before a crowd of 55,000 worshippers, Pope Benedict XVI rounded off his visit to Britain yesterday by beatifying the Victorian convert and theologian John Henry Newman. Like Newman (best remembered, said Benedict, for his "keen intellect and prolific pen"), this Pontiff has long enjoyed a reputation for being a complex, clever but rather dry academic, favouring language that is difficult to understand and moral positions that are uncompromising. Hence his nickname,...

Newsflash: Benedict isn't the angry, aloof pope we keep insisting he is.
British media Monday hailed Pope Benedict XVI for shedding his distant and authoritarian image on his historic state visit, but cautioned the Catholic Church still faced challenges in the nation. The pontiff succeeded in presenting himself as a lovable, elderly figure — a far cry from the "Rottweiler" image, they said. "What the visit accomplished above all was to unify Catholics and humanise a Pope who has so often been perceived as cold, aloof and authoritarian," wrote Catherine...

Pope Benedict XVI and the Tea Party Movement: Soulmates?
The leader of the Roman Catholic Church doesn't do political Endorsements, and Pope Benedict XVI isn't likely to make an exception for the Tea Party movement, no matter how much momentum the Populist tax revolt gains as the fall election campaign picks up speed. But after watching Benedict during his visit to Britain this weekend -- widely considered a success in the face of low expectations -- Kathryn Jean Lopez, editor-at-large of National Review Online, saw both the Tea Party and the pontiff...

Egyptian police arrest protesters decrying possible succession of Mubarak's son
Cairo — Egyptian Police on Tuesday beat and arrested Anti-Government Activists demonstrating against the possibility of the president's son succeeding his father as leader of the country. Some 300 Protesters outside the former royal palace in downtown Cairo chanted Anti-Government slogans, waved flags and even burned pictures of the president while hundreds of black clad Riot Police surrounded them in tight cordons. Many others were prevented from even reaching the wide square. Shoving...

A history lesson in Jerusalem
My wife left Jerusalem two days ago after her first visit here. It meant a lot to me to see this place through her eyes. So what did she think? She fell in love with Jerusalem and vows to come back here soon. It wasnt just the antiquity and the architecture, but the spiritual resonance of the place. Jerusalem calls to people whose values are not strictly materialistic. My wife reveled in that. We spent one day in Tel Aviv and she wanted to get out of there quickly. She told me...

RACE AND NATIONALITY DIFFERENT
There may be just one tiny flaw in Irfan Yusuf’s latest attempted take-down : A group of indigenous Activists have commenced legal action against Herald Sun columnist Andrew Bolt. Bolt commented on certain fair-skinned people identifying themselves as Aboriginal. He wrote that “this self-identification as Aboriginal strikes me as self-obsessed, and driven more by politics than by any racial reality”. All kind of accurate so far. But now we hit a problem: Bolt is...

RACE AND NATIONALITY DIFFERENT
There may be just one tiny flaw in Irfan Yusuf’s latest attempted take-down : A group of indigenous Activists have commenced legal action against Herald Sun columnist Andrew Bolt. Bolt commented on certain fair-skinned people identifying themselves as Aboriginal. He wrote that “this self-identification as Aboriginal strikes me as self-obsessed, and driven more by politics than by any racial reality”. All kind of accurate so far. But now we hit a problem: Bolt is...

Peter Henne: The Social Construction of Controversy
Observers and participants in the recent Park51 debate likely noticed some parallels to the 2005 Danish Muhammad cartoon controversy. Potent religious issues mixed with a clash between Freedom of Speech and the protection of communal values. But, as Lawrence Wright has discussed, the real parallel is in the strange dynamics of both controversies. What started as relatively insignificant incidents became issues of global contention. Nothing in the nature of the issues changed, and the lack...

Islamic Leaders in America
A helpful discussion on the role of Islam in America by Thomas F. Farrposted on The Public Discourse points out the ways in which the recent controversy about an Islamic Center near Ground Zero threatens to side-track the positive contributions that Muslims can make in America. At the end of the essay, however, I found myself not so much disagreeing but rather wanting more. Farr writes, It would be a tragedy if Muslims became so absorbed in this fantasy that they render themselves...

UK: Six men arrested for burning Qur'ans
Is burning a book illegal in Britain? Would someone who burned a Bible be Arrested? I think probably not, because British authorities know that no Christians would go ape and start killing innocent people if someone burned a Bible. That means that most likely these men were Arrested because Muslims are likely to commit acts of irrational violence in response to their action. But that, in fact, is solely the responsibility of the Muslims in question, not of the Qur'an-burners. It is breathtaking...