Dammit Janet!

…And in other news, bears shit in the woods.

Pope Benedict XVI called on Christians and Muslims today to serve mankind with the “light of God’s truth” while warning that extremists in nations such as Iraq were exploiting religious differences for political and violent agendas.

Speaking at the Al Hussein bin Talal Mosque, the pontiff, whose three-day pilgrimage here is an attempt to mend relations with the Muslim world, said the “tensions and divisions between the followers of different religious traditions, sadly, cannot be denied. However, is it not also the case that often it is the ideological manipulation of religion, sometimes for political ends, that is the real catalyst for tension and division, and at times even violence in society?”

Wasn’t the point of his Pontificating Preachiness’ harangue to condemn stuff like this? And this?Oh. Wait. That’s evidence of the ideological manipulation of christianity for political reasons, by the Vatican

In counterpoint, not everyone welcomes the Pope’s visit.

Jordanian clerics expressed disappointment that Pope Benedict XVI in an address to Muslim leaders on Saturday failed to offer a new apology for remarks seen as targeting Islam. …”What the pope said about the Prophet Mohammed is untrue. Islam did not spread through the power of sword. It’s a religion of tolerance and faith,” Hussein said. The pope had in 2006 quoted a medieval Christian emperor who criticised some teachings of the Prophet Mohammed as “evil and inhuman.”

Which is of course MASSIVELY different from the medieval clerics who justified the evil and inhuman actions of the Inquisition with the doctrine they claimed was inspired by the words of God and Jesus.

Reprinted with permission. deBeauxOs

Pope Benedict XVI began an 8 day visit through the Middle East Friday.