Vatican ‘health ministry’ completes report on condoms for pope

Actually, I think that if His Holiness is engaged in high-risk sexual activity, it’s only prudent.  (I can say that because I’m Catholic, so buzz off, macaca).

Well, Happy Turkey Day!  I know it’s tomorrow, but Catholics can celebrate from the 28th through December 1st, as that’s where il Papa will be.

Taking a look at the tableau that’s slowly emerging in Turkey in advance of Pope Benedict XVI’s upcoming visit, I can’t help thinking to myself “I wonder if the Pope has an infectious disease?” Ever since the September 11 attacks in America, the entire AKP administration, with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the forefront, have appeared to “dialogue between civilizations” men.

But even if the pols aren’t showing up for the occasion, it seems to have stimulated some dialogue:

Thirty-eight Muslim scholars from 20 countries sent a letter to Pope Benedict XVI urging mutual tolerance and respect over the weekend, and 500 prominent Muslims signed a religious ruling rejecting violence against civilians on Tuesday. Neither got much publicity.

But when Al Qaeda’s No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahiri, issues his latest bloodcurdling threat it dominates the airwaves. Mr. Nakhoodas doesn’t deny that a problem exists inside Islam, but says that a violent fringe is coming to represent the whole of the religion in Western eyes.

And that, he says, lies at the root of Pope Benedict’s critical comments about Islam in September.

“What you see in the media are people like [Osama] bin Laden, or Zarqawi, the sorts of people who don’t represent Islam or the religion at large,’’ says Nakhooda, the Jordan-based editor in chief of Islamica Magazine, which has been helping to publicize the “unprecedented” open letter by Muslim scholars.

“These individuals are a law unto themselves and, sadly, they get the most publicity…. The intent [of the letter] is to start a dialogue rolling so the public would see there’s a positive initiative, an alternative to anger.”

His magazine, a quarterly that describes its mission as providing a platform for mainstream Islamic ideas that are rarely heard in the West, has been working to get out the letter to the pope by Muslim scholars from eight different schools of thought and from more than 20 different countries, seeking to correct what they see as errors in his address and open up what they hope will be an ongoing dialogue. While it hasn’t received much attention in the West, the letter has been widely covered in the Muslim world.

An excerpt from the letter is here:

“While we applaud your efforts to oppose the dominance of positivism and materialism in human life, we must point out some errors in the way you mentioned Islam….

“You mention that ‘according to the experts’ the verse which begins, There is no compulsion in religion (al-Baqarah 2:256) is from the early period when the Prophet ‘was still powerless and under threat,’ but this is incorrect. In fact this verse is acknowledged to belong to the period of Quranic revelation corresponding to the political and military ascendance of the young Muslim community. There is no compulsion in religion was not a command to Muslims to remain steadfast in the face of the desire of their oppressors to force them to renounce their faith, but was a reminder to Muslims themselves, once they had attained power, that they could not force another’s heart to believe….

“We would like to point out that ‘holy war’ is a term that does not exist in Islamic languages. Jihad, it must be emphasized, means struggle, and specifically struggle in the way of God. This struggle may take many forms, including the use of force. Though a jihad may be sacred in the sense of being directed towards a sacred ideal, it is not necessarily a ‘war’. .

“God says in the Holy Qur’an: Let not hatred of any people seduce you into being unjust. Be just, that is nearer to piety (al-Ma’idah 5:8). In this context we must state that the murder on September 17th of an innocent Catholic nun in Somalia – and any other similar acts of wanton individual violence… is completely un-Islamic, and we totally condemn such acts.

“The notion that Muslims are commanded to spread their faith ‘by the sword’ … does not hold up to scrutiny…. Islamic teaching did not prescribe that the conquered populations be forced or coerced into converting….

“Christians and Muslims reportedly make up over a third and over a fifth of humanity respectively….Upon this sincere and frank dialogue we hope to continue to build peaceful and friendly relationships based upon mutual respect, justice, and what is common in essence in our shared Abrahamic tradition, particularly ‘the two greatest commandments’ in Mark 12: 29-31.”

According to Reuters, the Turkish protesters against the Pope’s visit are ”right wing”–incensed (heh), I guess, because the Pope is such a flaming liberal.

Oh, wait: liberals don’t seem to like him, either.

Another funny bit of Reuterism: “Pedestrians pass by a banner advertising an anti-pope rally organized by Islamic Welfare Party in Istanbul, Turkey, Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2006.” Face it, Avignon lost.

I’d like to have him for dinner:

Mehmet Ali AÄŸca, the Turkish gunman who shot Pope John Paul II, petitioned a court to be released from prison immediately, saying calculations of his time already served were incorrect and that he wanted to meet the new pope when he visits Istanbul, his lawyer said on Friday.

“I am devastated that I will be in jail when the pope comes. I would like to greet him at Hagia Sophia together with millions of people,” AÄŸca said, as quoted by his lawyer Mustafa DemirbaÄŸ to the Anatolia news agency.

The media haggling over how most authentically to spell Hagia Sophia has begun.

Dozens of young Turkish men, chanting “Allahu Akbar”* (God is greatest), occupied Istanbul’s renowned Aya Sofya museum on Wednesday in a protest ahead of Pope Benedict’s visit to the former church next week.

*Not to be confused with “Jesus Is Just Alright With Me.”