tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14300599.post114038090784307933..comments2023-10-09T07:56:32.564-05:00Comments on Sacramentum Vitae: When a martyr shouldn't be called oneMike Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09060404905348849140noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14300599.post-1140742489166991702006-02-23T19:54:00.000-05:002006-02-23T19:54:00.000-05:00Thanks, Michael. Very well put!Thanks, Michael. Very well put!Mike Lhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18100363229707213441noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14300599.post-1140617578661912922006-02-22T09:12:00.000-05:002006-02-22T09:12:00.000-05:00Although I appreciate Sister Chittister's concern ...Although I appreciate Sister Chittister's concern for calming the tensions between the religious communities, I would kindly request the sister to acquire knowledge of that what she wishes to speak about. I say so because she is making claims which are clearly factually false, and not merely errors of interpretation.<BR/>First, she claims the Turkish state does not discriminate officially against Christian organizations. That is patently false. The remaining Greek Orthodox communities can inform any reader who cares to listen of the financial and discriminatory regulatory restrictions they confront. I know that the German Christians in Antolya have not been able to register their church as a religious institution. One need not mention Saudi Arabia--even in moderate Malaysia Christians face a panapoly of government imposed discriminatory regulations restricting their <BR/>rights to construct churches, conduct missionary activities (i.e., prohibition to convert Muslims) and the like.<BR/><BR/>Second, it appears from her arguments that she would like to understand Islam's approach to Christians and Jews merely based on a few Quranic verses. Here she ironically makes a mistake which actually puts her in the camp of fundamentalist Wahabis, who would largely bypass the role of Islamic scholars in interpreting the Quran. And alarmingly, these interpretations often have very hostile approaches towards the people of the book. Yes freedom to worship is granted the "People of the Book": but they should not ring their church bells; they should wear identifying yellow waistbands; they should be pushed to the side of the road and suffer other humiliations.<BR/><BR/>Third, she would like to divert the correct understanding of the recent martyrdom of Father Santoro to the status of a murder conducted by a disturbed youth. This would hold some sort of cognitive force were it an isolated event. But this was only one of many incidents set against a backdrop of violence against Christian men and women of the cloth. Witness this report "ISTANBUL: A group of Turkish youths threatened to kill a Catholic friar, grabbing him by the throat and shouting "God is Greatest," just days after a Catholic priest was shot dead in Turkey, the friar said Friday. Martin Kmetec, a Franciscan friar from Slovenia, opened the door of his house on Thursday to find seven or eight angry men in their 20s." <BR/>But perhaps I am worng. Perhaps they were suffering from the same mental disturbance as the youth who martyred Father Santoro. But then I hope that she will charitably grant me the point that the name of this illness is ' Islamism'.<BR/><BR/>Best,<BR/>MichaelkAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com