Rally around Pope Benedict XVI

As a Christian and also an American but not a Catholic I want to rally around the Pope as a al Qaeda-linked extremist group warned Pope Benedict XVI on Monday that he and the West were "doomed." Protesters returned to the streets across the Muslim world to demand more of an apology from the pontiff for his remarks about Islam and violence. The Mujahedeen Shura Council, an umbrella organization of Sunni Arab extremist groups that includes al Qaeda in Iraq, issued a statement on a Web forum vowing to continue its holy war against the West. The authenticity of the statement could not be independently verified. The group said Muslims would be victorious and addressed the pope as "the worshipper of the cross" saying "you and the West are doomed as you can see from the defeat in Iraq, Afghanistan, Chechnya and elsewhere. We will break up the cross, spill the liquor and impose head tax, then the only thing acceptable is a conversion (to Islam) or (killed by) the sword."Islam forbids drinking alcohol and requires non-Muslims to pay a head tax to safeguard their lives if conquered by Muslims. They are exempt if they convert to Islam.

The pope on Sunday said he was "deeply sorry" about the angry reaction to his speech last week in which he cited the words of a Byzantine emperor who characterized some of the teachings of Islam's Prophet Muhammad as "evil and inhuman" and referred to spreading Islam "by the sword." Let's take a moment and think about the two key sentences in bold, then think about the acts of terror spreading across the Middle East against all non-muslims so I ask you do you think Islam is a religion of peace or a religion hijacked by haters of all things western? Sort of reminds you of the protests and violence stirred up by those cartoons that were published in a Danish newspaper of the Prophet Muhammad. Angry demonstrations took place in many countries then to, and most of the violence was directed at Western targets and Christian churches.