In a letter to the Editor of the Sentinel & Enterprise entitled Religious tolerance is a two-way street which was published yesterday, Father Anthony Di Russo wrote: "I found the Sept. 20 article on Ahmadiyya Muslims very interesting. We can sympathize with them and they with us because in Saudi Arabia and other Muslim-majority countries they would have no freedom of religion and would actually be at risk of losing their lives since they would be considered heretics.
In his recent trip to England, Pope Benedict said the Catholic Church is open to dialogue with other religions. But he also said there must be reciprocity. Reciprocity from the Muslim side is practically nonexistent. Where is there a church in Saudi Arabia? We cannot even go into that country with a Bible. In fact, the U.S. military recently burned Bibles in Afghanistan to avoid the appearance of trying to convert the Afghans.
Islam has a huge problem because the true believers think they must subject the rest of us to Sharia. They think later verses in the Quran supercede earlier verses. Unfortunately, the later verses are the violent ones and the peaceful, earlier verses are superceded. So the Jihadists actually have the Quran to back up their position.
The Sunoco station on Main Street in Leominster has been displaying a sign saying: Tolerance without reciprocity is appeasement. It is about time we demand reciprocity from Islam."
I've been saying this right along.
Tell that to Cardinal Tettamanzi of Milan, Italy. According to the September 21st Christian Science Monitor (http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2010/0921/Catholic-Church-backs-Muslim-struggle-to-build-Milan-s-first-mosque ), His Eminence says that Muslims should be able to build mosques in his city and elsewhere in Italy without any local restrictions or precondition of reciprocity in Muslim countries. He claims to have the support of the Italian Catholic bishops' conference.
ReplyDeleteI love the Pastors of the Church. But there is an old maxim: Cucculus non facit monachum - The cowl does not make the monk. A red hat doesn't guarantee intelligence or holiness of life either.
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