Should The Pope Have Apologised?

[The Welshman]

All that was said, did the words he spouted mean that much? More hurtful/disrespectful than what followed with the killing of a nun, abuse outside churches, etc?

It's a religious hot potato.........CATCH!

[Arabesque]

But personally I think he should. He offended people and that was not his intention. Any human would apologise.

[Nel]

I don't think he should apologize. I was actually quite impressed and suprised by his homily--how he commended the role of reason in faith (kind of ironic coming from the pope, i know i know, Christianity has been just as bad, but such a theme is welcome not matter how late). Some of his words may sound inflammatory, but I found it to be a courageous one.

So no, I don't think he should have to apologize. The violent reaction of some Muslims doesn't really prove him wrong, does it.

[neltado]

We have freedom of speech. We all have our opinions. There are no right or wrong ones. There are opinions we either agree or disagree with. I don't think the Pope should apologise either. I think his point was proven quite well when a nun was shot three times in the back in a children's hospital in Somalia.

Crusades ended in the 13th century. But jihad? Will there ever be an end to it?

[Emma]

yes he should....i dont like him..hes against gays..uhummm Tosser

[Rodrigo]

A great question Mickey. I've been thinkin about it. The commentary was very harsh and it doesn't really help to diminish the hate that is growing in this earth. What I'm not sure is if we are in times of being prudent or if we should start being bold.

A thing that really makes me curious is why muslims take so much into consideration what the Pope says. He is not the leader of their religion, he is also considered an infidel. Why an infidel's thought should care for them?

The problem with "Juan Pablo II" is that he made the pope a celebrity and everyone expects that the Pope should act like one. (Don't get me wrong JPII was a great man).

[MissingOrigin]

What do you mean if he should apologize? he already did, didn't he?

[Rodrigo]

Originally Posted by MissingOrigin

What do you mean if he should apologise? he already did, didn't he?

Yes, that is why the question is: "should _ have" and not only "should"

[Jan Willem]

It's much easier to train yourself to ignore things you don't like, than to ask the other 6 billion people on earth to not say these things you don't like. The problem isn't at the freedom of speech matter, but in the way people react to the great discovery of the last centuries: there are people that are different from us. We are all different, we think different, we act different. Just let it be, the world would be boring with 6 billion copies of yourself. I wouldn't mind if the rest of the world existed out of extremistic religious people, as long as they let me be that's okay. Unfortunately they don't, they (are trained to and train others to) feel the urgent need to indeed make everyone on earth like themselves, some by any means.
Summary of JW's boring post #5906: Ignore

[Nel]

Originally Posted by Rodrigo

I've been thinkin about it. The commentary was very harsh and it doesn't really help to diminish the hate that is growing in this earth. What I'm not sure is if we are in times of being prudent or if we should start being bold.

No, we should start being bold.

If the pope caves in, symbolically it gives strength to all Muslim radicals out there. The pope raised an interesting point concerning some of the pathologies that exist in contemporary Islam, which deserves further debate and discussion. We shouldn't have to acquiesce, censor ourselves or curb open debate just because certain Muslims get offended easily.

But, no, the media would rather condemn the pope and thus place criticism of Islam as something "off limits," rather than use the time to explore the crisis apparent in contemporary Islam (a missed opportunity that will only further narrow people's view on Islam, so it's not good for Islam either). It's a bad signal we're sending by becoming unwilling to hold Muslims accountable for their unacceptable actions.

We live in cowardly times and it sucks to see free speech being stifled through intimidation and violence. Muslims need to act like adults, that they can't go off burning churches and killing people at the slightest provocation. If they have a problem with what he says, have a conference or something and debate about it!