Hey kids! I am going to start the writing process today now that exams are over and I am all caught up with my school work. I hope to have at least five pages completed by the end of today as well as the entire outline... And no, it won't be as boring as some people may think. I think I have it a bit more nailed down and hopefully it will be clear and wonderful.

Moving on...

Have any of you been keeping up with this silly controversy involving the Pope reading (!) the words of a medieval scholar who was critical of Islam? I think it's stupid. The Pope was simply making a point that no war ought to be justified for religious reasons. Muslim extremists from all over the world became unreasonably enraged at this calling it a "Crusade against Islam." It resulted in the burning of two churches (Anglican and Orthodox, neither Roman Catholic) and the slaying of a nun. Ridiculous. Here are words from the holy Pontiff,

At this time, I wish also to add that I am deeply sorry for the reactions in some countries to a few passages of my address at the University of Regensburg, which were considered offensive to the sensibility of Muslims.

These in fact were a quotation from a medieval text, which do not in any way express my personal thought.

No way express his personal thought. Up until now, Benedict XVI has been seen as very charitable to both Muslims and Jews. I don't see any reason why that should be any different now than several months ago.

Perhaps it was a lapse in his diplomacy. There honestly could have been a better way to get his point across that the way to advance faith is not by violence. Lisa Palmieri-Billig,a Jerusalem Post correspondent, seems to think that as a theologian, the Pope may not have the same diplomatic abilities his predecessor did. The text he chose was poor, especially for its time period.

One thing that has been left out of so many articles is what he was actually talking about: the destructive affects of "progress" in western nations aside from faith and basically the resulting culture of death. Modernity brought us many things both good and bad. As inheritant of such a period we must accept what was good and leave behind the bad. As Michael Morrel just said to me, "...real events can't be reduced to soundbites."

Certainly our own faith has had its shares of evil equal to if not even more than Islam! Honestly. As a religion of peace we sure have killed many people... even today. A casual glance at the horrors of the crusade, to pick an obvious one, would do more than enough to prove my point.

Now a quick note from the Cathechism:

841 The Church's relationship with the Muslims. "The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Muslims; these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind's judge on the last day."

Whatever your own position on this matter, we need to keep in mind that no one is perfect. We all have sinned and can never even approach God without divine grace. That means everyone. Let's pray that this situation will be resolved peaceably and that we can all live out the peace of the kingdom in our own lives.