http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060915/wl_nm/religion_pope_islam_dc_6
Pope Ratzinger again shows how religion can be a unifying influence based on love and understanding:
In his speech at the University of Regensburg, Benedict quoted criticism of Islam and the Prophet Mohammad by 14th century Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaeologus, who wrote that everything Mohammad brought was evil and inhuman, “such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.”
Benedict repeatedly quoted Manuel’s argument that spreading the faith through violence is unreasonable, adding: “Violence is incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul.”
And I do love that last bit – violence incompatible with God? Isn’t this the guy who wiped out the Earth’s population with a flood, slaughtered the innocents and commanded Isaac to slit his son’s throat? Seems pretty damn compatible to me…