Telling it like it is

Hope he is bracing himself for the usual hysterics from the Islamists and their lefty lackeys, xenophobia, racism, 'intolerance', take your pick.

AUSTRALIA'S most influential Catholic has said the Koran is riddled with "invocations to violence" and the central challenge of Islam lies in the struggle between moderate and extremist forces as the faith spreads into a "childless Europe".

The Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell, said reading the Koran, the sacred text of Islam, was vital "because the challenge of Islam will be with us for the remainder of our lives - at least".

I have been told by many to read the Koran, but what for, many reputable bloggers have read it and told us it is violent and intolerant, the islamists have addressed these criticisms by burning, pillaging and slitting throats. I think its best to believe what others are telling me and use the precious time elsewhere.

There is however a message in there for many of us who seem obsessed with this 'Da Vinci' code business, it might be a bad idea in these times to be aiding in the deconstructing of the religion that gave us the freedom to do just that.

On the one side we have people claiming it is true, on the other side we have others saying its nonsense. I for one am sick to the back teeth of it, I don't care for either argument and care less for the book and the movie. If I believe in the proponents of this mysterious code, then I have nothing else to believe in, besides I firmly believe that dealing with the jihadist wearing a bulky jacket, screaming 'Allah Akbar' is more important than obsessing over an over priced doorstop.

Coming back to the good Archbishop, I really like the following bit.

But in a speech to US Catholic business leaders, Dr Pell said Western democracy was also suffering a crisis of confidence as evidenced by the decline in fertility rates. "Pagan emptiness" and Western fears of the uncontrollable forces of nature had contributed to "hysteric and extreme claims" about global warming.

"In the past, pagans sacrificed animals and even humans in vain attempts to placate capricious and cruel gods. Today they demand a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions."

I don't believe its just a reduction in emissions, I would go so far as to accuse the Eco-Terrorists of wanting the rest of us to reproduce less, perhaps even send us to a 'better place', not them offcourse, just us, to save mother earth you know.

Errors of facts, inconsistencies, anachronisms and other defects were not unknown to scholars but difficult for Muslims to debate openly, he said. "In my own reading of the Koran, I began to note down invocations to violence. There are so many of them, however, that I abandoned this exercise after 50 or 60 or 70 pages."

Claims of Muslim tolerance of Christian and Jewish minorities were largely mythical and he wondered about the possibility of theological development in Islam when the Koran was said to come directly from God. "Considered strictly on its own terms, Islam is not a tolerant religion and its capacity for far-reaching renovation is severely limited," he said.

However, like Christianity, Islam was a living religion and the existence of moderate Islam in Indonesia was proof of the softening impact of human intervention.

I'm sure the Bali victims would disagree with that.