Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Fighting Islam?

In the wake of the Pope's statements, there have been some interesting pieces from a religious perspective.

Rav Yisrael Rosen (who is a firece polemicist, whatever he writes) calls for Jews to overlook the historic animosity of the Church and to join the Pope in fighting Islam:

"Islam is a religion that espouses violence, said the Pope, and he's right! We all know that all those who qualify the statement or condemn it – priests, world leaders, academicians etc. – are all scared of Islam's vengeful sword and of "pouring oil on the fire."

...I'm calling on all people of spirit and culture in the world, including rabbis, on free world media outlets, on those seeking democracy and human rights and on all those who seek life, to join the Pope's declaration and face the reality emerging before our very eyes. The Iranian genie is out of the bottle, the Afghan-Pakistani genie is hiding deep in its caves, the Hamas genie is growing stronger, and the sword of Islam will not stop at the Shaba Farms or the 1967 borders.

Despite all the calamities we have suffered at the hands of the Christian world during the years of our long exile, including Nazi anti-Semitism, which is a result of the Christian religion, I believe there is room to join forces with Christian leaders in order to fight the common enemy: Radical Islam. "


In conrast, Rav Yoe Bin Nun pens a fascinating (naive?) letter to the Islamic people calling for a meeting of minds and an understanding based upon our joint religious perspective.

And see My Obiter Dicta for an interesting and comprehensive piece.

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