Byzantine thought processes

I have to agree (once again) with Les and DOF — it’s ironic (and not a bit disgusting).

1. The Pope quotes a Byzantine emperor who criticized Mohammed and Islam for promoting the spread of religion by violence.
2. Muslims protest this grossly unfair and insulting characterization of the Prophet and their faith.
3. Some of them protest it by … burning churches and shooting nuns.

In the town of Tulkarem, a 170-year-old stone church was torched before dawn and its interior was destroyed, Christian officials said. In the village of Tubas, a small church was attacked with firebombs and partially burned, Christians said. Neither church is Catholic, the officials said.

Palestinian Muslims hurled firebombs and opened fire at five churches in the West Bank and Gaza Strip Saturday to protest the Pope’s comments, sparking concerns of a rift between Palestinian Muslims and Christians.

and

An Italian nun was killed by gunmen at a children’s hospital in Somalia yesterday in an apparent revenge attack for the Pope’s speech about Islam last week.

Sister Leonella Sgorbati, 65, left, was shot four times in the back by two men at the entrance to the hospital in the capital, Mogadishu. Her bodyguard was also killed …

Way to promote that “Religion of Peace” meme, guys.

Of course, the people committing these kind of acts — or, more importantly, the people riling their followers up into doing so — aren’t really doing it for the sake of Islam. They’re doing it for the sake of their own power and influence. That they do Islam more harm than good doesn’t even enter into their mental calculations and chest-beating.