Mulling the Consequences of the Pope's Speech

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The pope needs an advisor who knows the opinion, the temperature, on the streets! Has he not witnessed the uproar over the psychological operation known as the Danish Cartoons? Would he dare to balance his remarks with criticism of American fundamentalist Christian Holy Warriors? Why not? How about critique of the notorious passages in the Talmud? Meanwhile the text and thrust of his very interesting and thoughtful speech has been lost due to ignorance of the tensions and motives which lurk under the landscape. -- Klaatu

As a devoted Muslim and an Indonesian by birth, I strongly believe that the pontiff's comment on Islam was misunderstood by my fellow Muslims. I am always tolerant towards every religion no matter the difference of its worshipping towards the Creator. -- Endoeng Sasmito

I do not expect the present pope to accomplish much in his period of papacy. He has already started on the wrong foot and might ignite more hatred between Muslims and Christians. -- Abdul Ataa

No amount of intellectual sophistication can hide that in his core, Ratzinger has remained a Catholic Bavarian village yokel. -- Diet Simon

The pope's remarks have been taken out of context. He actually was promoting interfaith dialogue. The actual paragraph in question was not his words -- he was quoting. He also said he found the sentiment expressed therein a bit strong. It is disappointing to see how Muslim clerics have chosen to take the whole thing out of context, thereby using it for their own motives. Those demonstrating on the streets have likely never read the speech and have most probably been told that these were the actual words of the pope. There are too many people out there ready to hate -- sadly particularly Muslims -- a faith which is supposed to be tolerant and peaceful. The pope should never apologize. -- Diana Bishop, France

I expect the Pope to create further division between Christianity and Islam. The pope's very unfortunate remarks are going to spark a worldwide controversy that will further the hatred already seen in so many different conflicts throughout the world. Perhaps the pope is a bit delusional in his thinking. He should apologize, and resign. This will help build back the vote of confidence that the Catholic Church so desperately will need in the very near future. -- Christian Fiech

I concur with those who believe that the present pope was referring to Islam in an historical context. These remarks have been taken out of context. Hopefully, the Islamic population worldwide will carefully analyze the whole discourse and appreciate what the underlying message is. -- Maureen T. Couch, Australia

I have read the whole speech, which is very long and very complex. The real pity is that the media only quoted one sentence. The most interesting part of the speech was, and this is like a "fingerprint" of this pope, criticism of the "modern times" and criticism of the western "way of life." Very interesting was the part on the "dialogue of cultures," which can not take place if the western world excludes God from its life. It seems to me as if the pope wanted to begin a public discussion on the legitimizing of violence on the one side, and on the role of faith and sense in our western world. -- Ludwig Meyerhoff, Germany

It was stupid for him to quote a 14th century Byzantine emperor. Open mouth, insert foot. Of course, the Muslims will react badly to a denigration of their prophet and their religion. How much better to comment on the positive and loving side of Islam and refer to the violent side of Christianity, particularly in Bosnia and between the Serbs and Croats, saying hostility has no place in any religion. -- Patty Roland