I'm telling you right now...I'm NOT going to fight for my religion.

Click here to see how the Crusades for the 21st Century will begin.  Oh Pope...you made a boo boo. 

In a speech in Germany yesterday Pope Benedict pretty much screwed us all by making what have been perceived as derogatory remarks about Islam.  Here is an excerpt from the Yahoo News report:

The pope quoted from a book recounting a conversation between 14th-century Byzantine Christian Emperor Manuel Paleologos II and a Persian scholar on the truths of Christianity and Islam.

"The emperor comes to speak about the issue of jihad, holy war," Benedict said. "He said, I quote, 'Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.'"

The pope did not explicitly agree with nor repudiate the comment. 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't it the Muslims that got all mad when a Danish artist simply rendered Muhammad as a cartoon in the newspaper?  Didn't they riot and blow shit up just because someone drew a picture of their beloved prophet? 

Benedict has drawn so much fire over his remarks that the Vatican has put out a release stating that they are sure that his words were misunderstood. The German Chancellor also came to the aid of her countryman.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel defended the German-born pope, saying his message had been misunderstood.

"It is an invitation to dialogue between religions and the pope has explicitly urged this dialogue, which I also endorse and see as urgently necessary," she said Friday. "What Benedict XVI makes clear is a decisive and uncompromising rejection of any use of violence in the name of religion."

 See...my issue is that there are a TON of Muslims in the world, and a great lot of them are REALLY seething now.  They are mad at the leader of one of the sects of my religion.  Do I feel personally threatened by this new development?  Not terribly.  I do, however, feel that it was an insanely foolish time for Benedict to levy even a mild attack against Islam, since we seem to be teetering on the brink of god-only-knows what kind of holy war.

My main worry is the government of Pakistan, whose parliament put forth a resolution condemning Benedict for his speech.  That's good, Popey, just piss off the nuclear nations of the world.

I'm gonna just sit here and hope that no one approaches me to fight for the survival of Christianity.  I love my religion, but I think we can survive just as well in peace.