Muslims demand Pope's apology

I see where the Pope has gone out on a limb and called a spade "a spade" as far as Islam is concerned Basically, he quoted a 14th Century Christian Emperor (the only Christian emperors around at that time were the Hapsburgs of the Holy Roman Empire) who were engaged in a tooth and nail struggle with the Islamic states on their southern borders. There is reason for the Hapsburgs to think that Islam had only brought "evil and inhuman" things. (Of course, those on the other side of this string of wars had ample reason to feel the same about Christianity; these were not very pretty wars. In enemy territory, pretty much every living soul was considered a combatant and put to the sword ASAP. But, I digress...)

Bringing things up to date, though, I do notice how these peace loving, gentle Muslims are reacting to the Popes gaffe: namely with increasing violence. Personally, I think there is some truth to the allegation that Islam is a religion based in violence. No matter how badly we Christians have warped and twisted the Christian Gospels, we are taught that Christ told us that, "..all those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword" and "Blessed are the gentle for they shall inherit the earth" and "...do not resist him who is evil; but whoever slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also." We may not practice what we preach, but at least we preach the right (IMHO) things. Islam, as far as I can tell, preaches that the way to get things done is to use violence when it furthers the objective at hand.

Violence: Islam and the Islamic cultures are steeped in it. Well, I have some news for them. While they may see the west as being Christian, we are actually not...at least not really. We are some unholy mix of Christian, Pagan and atheistic religions and philosophies. And we can be the most ruthless killers in the world. You people fuck with us, and, sooner or later, we will pretty much hand you your heads...if we don't just stuff 'em up your asses first.

On the other hand, when we are left alone, we pretty much leave everybody else alone (except for the jerk currently residing in the White House, but we (and you) only have two more years of putting up with his churlish stupidity.) Oh sure, you'll have our religious fanatics spouting off against you, but, then, we'll have your religious fanatics spouting off against us. I figure if the majorities in both cultures can assume a "live and let live" modus vivendi, we can, in fact, coexist in peace. However, to do this we both must agree that violence is not an acceptable alternative in any situation.