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WOW!!

Islam intrinsically violent - convert

Article from: Agence France-Presse

From correspondents in Rome

March 23, 2008 08:41pm

ITALIAN editor and critic of Islamic extremism Magdi Allam, who converted to Catholicism from Islam and was baptised by Pope Benedict XVI, today branded his former faith as intrinsically violent.

"I had to do this (abandon Islam)", Allam wrote in a long letter to the Italian daily Corriere della Sera.

"Beyond ... the phenomenon of extremists and Islamist terrorism at the global level, the root of evil is inherent to a physiologically violent and historically conflictual Islam," wrote the Egyptian-born journalist, who says he has received death threats and is under police protection.

One of seven adults baptised during an Easter vigil yesterday evening, Allam, 55, is an editorial writer and deputy editor at Corriere.

Regarding a combative tone that has made him famous in Italy, Allam wrote: "Over the years my spirit has been freed from the obscurantism of an ideology that legitimises lies and deception, violent death that leads to homicide and suicide, blind submission to tyranny."

He described Catholicism as "an authentic religion of Truth, Life and Freedom".

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,23420244-5005961,00.html

UPDATES/ Links:

* http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=29392_Islamic_Scholar_Denounces_Pope#comments

NO RESPECT

Saudi Shoura Council votes down law promoting respect for other religions

It could have led to having to allow their houses of worship to be buillt within the Kingdom, you see. "Of Fatwas and Infidels," by Abeer Mishkhas in Arab News -JW

The Shoura Council last week defeated a proposal to adopt a law promoting respect for other religions and religious symbols. The proposal that would have had the blessings of the Arab League was opposed by 77 members and supported by 33.

In his reason for voting against the proposal, one member told Al-Watan newspaper that the negative effects might outweigh the positive ones as it would give legality to nonmonotheistic religions and consequently it would allow the building of houses of worship for those religions in Muslim countries.

The proposal was surely influenced by the Danish cartoon crisis that recently resurfaced. If we look at the consequences of approving such a proposal, we will see that it would have been an important step forward. It simply proposes respect for other religions and tolerance for those who practice them. The proposal suggests simply that people in the world need to learn to live together and to accept each other for what they are and that people must also remember that respect and tolerance work both ways....

It's good at least to see a Saudi columnist supporting this.