These wars were fought by Germany for its own particular political reasons, not to extend Lutheranism. That differs from the Islamic jihad to propagate their religion by violence which has continued for 1300 years, of which the current Wahhabist campaign of terror is the most recent expression of violence.

Your example of WWII is particulary strained, seeing as Hitler, the architect of that war, was a pagan.

EricPWJohnson: “The rest of your comments are soo much drivel – I deal with Wahabbist every day and believe it or not the Emir of Qatar is one as well in fact Qatar is THE only Wahabbist country”

What a blithe but unpersuasive dismissal. The $500K which funded the Sep 11 attack came not only from Saudi Arabia but from the Gulf States. Perhaps your pal, the Emir of Qatar, was one of the donors. Your rebuttal that Saudi Arabia is not bad because you deal with Wahhabis is a non sequitur.

EricPWJohnson: “Saudi is only partly Wahabbist Its the individual preachers, inmans, rabbi’s, gurus, monks, etc, making individual statements and choices they as indiviuals – do not define a religion nor do they attach it to their followers”

Wahhabis are not known for a devotion to individualism but rather for their adamant conformism. Wahhabism is a totalitarian program which demands compliance in every single aspect of your life, even down to how you mate and urinate. The Wahhabis are not bombing people so that they may more freely march to their own drummer, but to compel them to submit to Wahhibism in every dimension of their lives.

I’m sure the Shia of the east coast of Saudi Arabia and the people of Jidda would agree that Wahhabism does not allow for much individualism.

EricPWJohnson: “My point about lutherans was to not let you paint 1.2 billion people with too wide a brush”

Muslims have committed ten thousand terror attacks since Sep 11, killing sixty thousand people and wounding ninety thousand. Muslims are painting their own portrait of their religion in blood. Had Muslims been as peaceful and productive as Lutherans, I would have a better opinion of them. For example, Lutherans have built many hospitals and universities in America. Where are the hospitals and universities the Muslims have built? So far, Muslims have built more terror cells and bombs in America than hospitals or universities because their creed is a violent and destructive one. It has earned our contempt.

Then you must not have read much history

Lutherans (which I am one, which was the (un)official religion of Germany) sanctioned the following wars

WWI

WWII

The rest of your comments are soo much drivel – I deal with Wahabbist every day and believe it or not the Emir of Qatar is one as well in fact Qatar is THE only Wahabbist country

Saudi is only partly Wahabbist

Its the individual preachers, inmans, rabbi’s, gurus, monks, etc, making individual statements and choices they as indiviuals – do not define a religion nor do they attach it to their followers

My point about lutherans was to not let you paint 1.2 billion people with too wide a brush

(3) “Wear kevlar.”

Yup…there are “duh” moments and then there are “You seriously thought that needed to be said” moments. I think this is the latter.

The Lutherans are not perpetrating a war of religious imperialism against the non-Lutherans nor is the King of Norway funding a terror campaign to impose Lutheranism by blowing people into bloody chunks from New York to Bali. The Lutheran churches do not sport hate literature against non-Lutherans nor do they hand out brochures to visiting Norwegians telling them that they have a religious duty to hate American and that participating in our democracy is blasphemy.

The Lutherans have never, to my knowledge, identified America as their Great Satan in their most sacred religious rituals nor have Lutherans celebrated the mass murder of Americans. No Lutherans have been caught casing office buildings nor bridges for terror attacks nor caught mixing big tubs of explosive to carry such plots out nor succeeded in carrying them out. Lutherans have never flown any skyjacked jets into skyscrapers. Lutherans do not teach hatred for other religions. There is no Lutheran doctrine that non-Lutherans must convert to Lutheranism, submit to Lutheran rule, or die.

Pancake breakfasts are about as radical as Lutherans get.

There is a vast difference between Lutherans and Muslims, particularly Saudi Wahhabi Muslims, who are murderous Neanderthals who follow a barbaric bloodthirsty faith. To paraphrase the proud boast of the Muslim radicals, they love death while Lutherans love life. That is a vast difference between us.

And why exactly don’t you know this?

Of course. I agree that much credit goes to our fine military representatives. I just think that Bush & others get very little credit, with our instant-gratification, me-first culture. Culture change takes time & vision. And, certainly, effective work by our caring men & women in uniform. For every Abu Ghraib, there are thousands of unreported acts of generosity which are unnoticed by media, but seen by those most affected.

Cables, dispatches and memoranda for 3/17/2008……

The king of Norway funds Norwiegan Seamans churches all over the US – So does the King of Sweden – is it a Lutheran Consipracy?

The Saudis are fond of making feints in the direction of reform and then reneging. They’d have more luck trying to edit the bigotry and hate out of their elementary school textbooks.

However, I note that Saudi Arabia has not been shy about funding mosques all over Europe, including the biggest one in Rome, just a couple miles from the Vatican. What do you think THAT was about? Supremacy.

Its also a testiment to the conduct, compassion, and bravery of our troops over there who for 6 years has shown the Arab world that the American people are a kind and just civilization that values freedom and liberty and the right of self rule above all things.

a good place to begin for a mutual exchange

unclesmrgol

What exchange would that possibly be?

Is the trade off that St.Pauls becomes a mosque?

Stripping the anti-Catholic tone of BL@CKBIRD’s statement out, there is another possibility that a Catholic church might do double-duty as a mosque. Consider Cordoba Cathedral in Spain, which was built inside one of the most venerated mosques in Islam, which, in turn, was built by demolishing a church (which in turn, had been built after demolishing a temple to Janus, the Roman god of peace, turnings, and doors).

Muslims frequently attempt to pray at the mosque and are turned away by the church’s guards. Of course, it may have to do with the extremely vocal nature of the Islamic prayers attempted, and the fact that they were attempted within the confines of the cathedral building itself.

This would be a good place to begin for a mutual exchange. The area of the Mosque is big enough to hold several places of worship without interference.

Lonestartimes is run by a guy named David Benzion who was the producer for KSEV radio and is a staunch conservative.

He was State Senator Dan Patricks’ producer for many years.

No, I’m not naive. But I for one do see parallels between W and Reagan. Both took unpopular, long-view stances and stood firm. The wall came down in Berlin after Reagan left office. I hope that positive developments will reverberate through the Middle East in the next 5-10 years due to our engagement in the region, though at a high cost over the present time.

Afterwards, the king offered his host a gold sword encrusted with jewels.

Many people are “offered” the sword every day in the Kingdom…blade first.

EricPWJohnson on March 17, 2008 at 11:33 AM

Appreciate your comments. Like has been said keep it coming.

Just went to your blog. Very good! Great reporting on PP.

I bookmarked your site.

I saw construction workers, poor people, being given the best medical treatment by top doctors around the world with concern and compassion all paid for by the government.

EricPWJohnson on March 17, 2008 at 11:09 AM

Sounds like our gov’ment and illegals.

Never say “never”.

Only if Islam falls will churches be built in Saudi Arabia.

Otherwise, the Muslim faithful will prevent it, since it is part of the central dogma of Mohammadism to keep all other creeds out of the region.

Islam must cease in its current form before this change could occur.

This is one incident where I applaud the Catholic Church. The goal of the Christian Church should be to spread the Gospel of Christ and only to spread the Gospel of Christ. The church shouldn’t be telling people how to live or ‘they’ll to go hell’.

Thank you Pope Benedict for doing something useful. . . even if it doesn’t work out for a church in Saudi, this is the role of the Christian Church.

The thing about Muslims is that they love God and they are very devout. The only way to convince them that God is a loving God and not a vengeful God is to introduce them to the Christ who re establishes the covenant with them.

Now if we can be allowed to proselytize and convert Muslims without Muslims fearing for their lives, we’ll have a much more peaceful world.

Good job here Mr. pope sir.