Catholic League Defends Pope: Muslim Leaders Verbally Attack Pope, End Dialogue

By Catholic League
1/23/2011
Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights (www.catholicleague.org/)

Sheikh Ahmed is now accusing the pope of interfering in an 'internal affair,' and is leading a boycott of future Catholic-Muslim dialogue

The president of Al-Azhar, an Egyptian university, Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb, along with the leading members of the Islamic Research Academy, announced Thursday they are breaking off dialogue with the Vatican in response to Pope Benedict XVI's criticism of Muslim violence against Christians.

Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb

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NEW YORK, NY (Catholic League) - The president of Al-Azhar, an Egyptian university, Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb, along with the leading members of the Islamic Research Academy, announced Thursday they are breaking off dialogue with the Vatican in response to Pope Benedict XVI's criticism of Muslim violence against Christians.

After the suicide bombing of a Coptic Christian church in Alexandria that killed 23 people, the pope called attention to "non-Muslims being oppressed by Muslim states in the Middle East," and complained that not enough was being done by Muslim-run governments to protect Christians.

Sheikh Ahmed is now accusing the pope of interfering in an "internal affair," and is leading a boycott of future Catholic-Muslim dialogue. This follows an Arab leadership summit held yesterday that also denounced "foreign interference in Arab affairs." Already, the annual inter-religious meeting between the Vatican and Muslim leaders scheduled for next month has been called off.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue defended the Pope on Thursday:

"We are constantly being told that Islam is just like every other world religion-indeed, it is a religion of peace-and that while every religion has its share of crazies, most Muslims are no different than most Christians and Jews. Yet daily we read about unprovoked violence, or threats of it, against Christians and Jews, and just as often we read how it is justified by leading Muslims clerics in the name of their religion.

"If a lone Christian zealot kills an abortionist, he gets zero support from Christian leaders. But when a Muslim woman decides to convert, there is no end to the number of Muslim leaders who say she should be put to death. If this is what the "religion of peace" believes, God help those who live under its more radical rulers.

"The Muslim leaders also blasted the Holy Father again for his 2006 speech at Regensburg University. At that time, the pope warned against the evils of faith without reason, and reason without faith. The pope was right then, and he is right now. Indeed, these Muslims give expression to the former evil."

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The Catholic League is the nation's largest Catholic civil rights organization. Founded in 1973 by the late Father Virgil C. Blum, S.J., the Catholic League defends the right of Catholics � lay and clergy alike � to participate in American public life without defamation or discrimination. It is led by its' President, William A. Donohue, Ph.D.

Keywords: Muslim, Jihadi, Catholic, Catholic League, Bill Donohue, Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb

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1 - 10 of 63 Comments

daniel
1 year ago
It would seem that Muslims have always wanted a debate with the pope, and the pope did better than that he invited them to a dialogue, to access the Vatican's rich library and archives and some Muslim leaders responded to that because this is now their opportunity to have a direct discussion with the pope. Instead they attack the pope for speaking out against Islamic terrorism. Instead of joining with the pope to denounce terrorism they chose to side with the terrorist not only that, they chose to quite the dialogue.

Did they quit because of the pope speaking out against the terrorist? Or was it because the terrorist send a message to them to quite by attacking Christians?

Or was it because they were learning the truth that Mohammed was wrong and they just could not accept it, so they find a way to excuse themselves by attacking the pope for speaking out against the terrorist?

Their actions seem to support that indeed Muslims are generally radicals and they support terrorism?
Ioana
2 years ago
p.p.s.

that Mohamed Ahmed el-Tayeb guy "was appointed by the Egyptian President, Hosni Mubarak, following the death of Muhammad Sayyid Tantawy in 2010"...

that same president who was a dictator for the Egyptian people for the last 30 years.

in my formerly Communist and totalitarian country many priests had been "bought" by the Communist authorities and some of them even betrayed the confessions of their parishioners and thus sometimes throwing people into jail for political reasons.

In my opinion, it's just politics amusing itself with stirring religious fanatics. Muslim on "their" side, Christian on "ours".
Ioana
2 years ago
p.s.

Indeed there are a few other commentators that have seized the horrific fanaticism of the attitude "Christians good/ Muslims bad" here - and that is a sign of hope.

A Syrian commentator specified that it is an Egyptian state's employee - Mr. Ahmed el-Tayeb - who talked against the Pope's attitude...

Also, it's in Egypt - a country financially supported by the USA - that violence against Christians take place... Not in Iran or other current scarecrow... Why? Maybe we should look at politics and regional context, not at the "criminal nature" of some religion.

A brief overlook over the Muslim/ Christian massacres in Lebanon during the last 40 years would make your hairs stand on end. There there was no religion of love, just guns and political interests. The massacres are horrible, even if the perpetrators vary from Christians to Muslims and to Israelis...

I don't know whether my comments would be published, I see that the other comments stop at January 30th. I only wrote so late because this title still appears among the main issues on the Google result for Catholic.org. And consequently it sheds intolerance and hatred among its readers.
I think we are Christians and humans first and only secondarily mundanely interested individuals. So that peace and mutual understanding should be of foremost importance for any of us. Foreign culture people on this earth, be they Muslims or Americans, or Hindus, or Chinese, Norwegians, Russians or whatever else are also humans, not ALIENS. they think and act normally. it's such a simple judgment, but so hard to reach, it seems.
Ioana
2 years ago
I am a Roman-Catholic in a country where Catholics are a minority. most of the people here are Orthodox Christians, some are Greek Catholics, some are protestants and yet others are Muslims. We respect each other and I must say that the traditional Muslim community has been the most peaceful and gentle community in a country where sometimes grudges raise among the social, ethnic or religious communities.

This very morning our priest was telling us about the great family that our community should form. Still, for what I know, Jesus preached us the love for the strangers and even for our enemies, not for our brothers - that one should be natural and only human beasts need to be imposed such things... If we are at such pains to feel friendly for the folks in our community and if "brother" got restrained to its literal meaning of blood brother (and sometimes not even that) - I think it's very sad.

I opened this article out of curiosity, and I saw it dates back to January - still it's here on front page, with very many rather fanatic comments against "pagans".

Of all the comments I read, only one - signed "Graeme" talks about tolerance and about reality: average Muslims condemn violence just like any other people. "Graeme" gives examples of Muslim sites speaking against the violence against Christians:
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Kuwaiti-and-Saudi-intellectuals-condemn-attacks-on-Christians-20469.html
http://www.qantara.de/webcom/show_article.php?pwcn=741_115&wc_c=476&wc_id=1445
http://www.islamopediaonline.org/fatwa/condemnation-political-violence-against-christians-gorja-city-punjab-pakista

Humanity is common in all of us and average people resemble each other in good and in bad deeds with or without any religion. I am a practicing Christian and living the Christian truths is really a great happiness for me. But I won't deceive myself that religion alone can turn bad people into good. Here we are on a Christian internet site, teaching each other how to hate Muslims. What is Christian in all of that? Meanwhile we ignore that thousands of Muslims die of our guns, of our money and at our hatred's hands.

I excuse myself if there were any other normal comments that I haven't read. For all I have read, an equally fanatic Muslim could classify Christianity as a religion of hate, following a reasoning similar to yours.
Jorge
2 years ago
Bottom line, Islam is PURE EVIL, don't conform or bow down to it...EVER! Don't betray the LOVE our Lord Christ gave us, by allowing you to be a puppet of blind satanic hatred-islam-supremacist totalitarian agenda.Refuse to convene and to submit to islam in any form!
Derek
2 years ago
I agree that it is good to have dialogue with the Islamic clerics in order to encourage them to continue with their belief in God, but at the same time helping them to reform Islam and leave Mohammed out of it. We were warned of false prophets in the scriptures, and Mohammed is certainly a false prophet who only used Judism, and christianity for his own benefit to attain power and wealth. He leaves a horrible example of greed and violence which continues today, because it is not permitted to question Islam! We must pray for our fellow brothers and sisters, that our lord forgives them, and that they know and accept him as the saviour.
Jock
2 years ago
When a person feels that he probably is in the wrong it pays him to stop dialoguing..

Jock
Pat Donohue
2 years ago
The Holy Spirit is guiding Benedict XVI in leading the Church on the right path. We need to continue praying to the Holy Spirit for the Holy Father to receive His Grace Wisdom and strength to withstand the pressures of the world. May he continue to lead God's Church according to His Divine Will.
vance
2 years ago
It is essential that we Americans stop all Muslim immigration into this country and not allow any more mosques to be build or established. They are not protected under the 1st Amendment because they declared themselves as our enemies. This is a matter of life and death not college campus philosophical debate. They do not respect drivil about love and peace, they respect action.
KJL
2 years ago
Islam is both a religion and a political ideology and its politics are supremacist. This is the doctrine of mainstream Islam command Muslims to work toward the dominance of their religion over all other religions, and the subjugation of all people to the Islamic political system (Sharia). In our case, Islam seeks to overthrow the constitution of the United States, and to replace it with Sharia. That is sedition or at worst treason.
What lawful civil authority would allow an organization to immigrate here with the express objective of creating a highly specific legal and political plan for society that is in direct opposition to the existing government?
Would our government set idly by if it were neo-nazis coming to this country preaching their brand of social order. Would our government sit on their hands if it were communists who were trying to set up shop in this country.

If the answer is no then why do we allow Muslims to immigrate here? We see what is happening in Europe. Within 30 years Europe will be a Muslim country. This is inevitable in Europe, not here. We need to act now!

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