All Comments (19)

I went to school with you and graduated in 1952 B....Lorain High. I often wondered what become of that nice Greek boy from my class. And here you are.... I watch George Stephanopoulos every Sunday morning... How is he related to you?

I hope all is well with you and your family...
Doris Trnian Carson

another greek point of view and nothing new same old boring stuff going on since first greek immigrant put foot on this soil.The problem is no Turkish view is represented. No one question the treatment of minorities in greece. Greece has one of the worst records in terms of minority issues.I had an excellent teacher once, told the class; "look at the source of the news!"Ask: where it comes from? so this greek guy -StephanoNopoulos can write anything he wants to but the key is; it doesn't mean anything unless other side is represented too.
sincerely,
Al

It's not Benedict's place -- nor is it any of Christendom's place -- to help Islam "deal with its more violent and extreme elements". THAT is our number one problem: our knee-jerk response to "help" other countries solve their problems. For us to insinuate ourselves into the middle of (what we perceive to be) problems in Islam is about as helpful to Muslims as it was when Europeans decided to "help" Native and Africans become "civilized" almost three centuries ago.

Look around us! Poverty, desolation, crime, abuse, neglect. There aren't enough social workers to deal with the everyday stuff we do to each other -- so we now want to what? "Help" Islam deal with violent and extreme elements? Tell you what:

Take care of Fred Phelps showing up at Walter Reed, shouting his blasphemous and inciteful diatribe, then we can talk about "helping" Islam with its extremists.

Stop anti-abortionists from blowing up clinics and murdering doctors, and then we can talk about "helping" Islam with its violence.

Feed our babies, get our children off the streets, and educate our young people -- give them a future -- then, maybe, we'll talk about "helping Muslims take on" the parts of their society they wish they could eradicate.

As Christians, our backyard is littered with the aftermath wrought by violence and extremism, and before Benedict starts trying to lead his sect of Christendom into "helping" people who really don't want our help, he needs to take a page out of Pope John Paul II's book and start working toward healing the rifts between Catholics and Protestant religions.

The Christian house isn't clean enough for our leaders to be going out and dictating what other religions should do when they need to weed out certain "elements". And it won't be clean enough, until we've plucked a few planks out of our own eyes first.

Anonymous:
The U.S. involvement in Iraq, (which I never supported,) has nothing whatsoever to do with the religion of the troops. Of course, right at this moment Iraqi Muslims are killing one another solely because of differences between different sects within their own religion. See the difference?

I have read that the Pope is pessimistic about any rapprochement between Christianity and Islam, because Islam does not recognize the significance of rationality along with faith, as Catholicism claims to do. I do not detect all that much respect for rational thought within Christianity, so that is quite an observation for the Pope. If there can be no appeal to rationalism, then there can be no altering of one's position in the face of new information, and thus, no real reconciliation. This intransigence in the face of contrary information is the seed crystal of the problems religions pose in a world full of dangerous weaponry. If there is ever a rapprochement between the Islamic world andthe West, I doubt that it will be due to Islam and Christianity. Only man's rational sense can save him in the end.

YEST ME

... Maybe that's why Peter said 'no scripture is open to private interpretation'

A book, any book, cannot defend itself from error.

There's a conclusion to be drawn here,somewhere.

Go figure!

YEST ME

... Maybe that's why Peter said 'no scripture is open to private interpretation'

A book, any book, cannot defend itself from error.

There's a conclusion to be drawn here,somewhere.

Go figure!

BOB

here's a news flash for you; even in Christianity you get to decide!!! OTH the government has an increasing amount to say about how you live your life and there you don't get to decide.
The Catholic Church, indeed any Christian Church, and we won't forget our Jewish cousins in religion, are voluntary organizations, It is only in Islamic countries where you risk your life for leaving Islam or converting to some other religion.
BTW the purpose of the Bible was never to prove the existence of God.
I admire your passion but you might consider mixing a little more rationality into your drink.It will keep youi on an even keel,don't you think?

Perhaps the premise that the Bible is the word of God is the problem. The problem of peace among the many faiths with all those absolute truths.

There are at least 1,500 different official, (qualifies for tax exemption) interpretations of the Bible. There's just one more. Should it be qualified official by the government of the United States of America?

Interpretation 1501 is too long for this forum.
It's at http://www.hoax-buster.org/sellyoursoul

Several here will find this one interesting as well as sheding light on all the chaos created by Moses based religions. I say Moses because the Muslims too claim it was God in the famous burning bush.

I am glad Rev. Stephanopoulos shed some light to the significance of the Pope's visit that the media largely missed. The fact that the head of the Western church went to the home of the Eastern church is something many church historians would have thought impossible. After Vatican II, the heads of both churches met in neutral territory in Jerusalem to avoid submitting to the other by either meeting in Vatican City or Istanbul.

Perhaps the nearly 1,000 year split in Christianity will be healed someday. I pray that should this happen, Protestantism will cease dividing and follow the example of Roman Catholics and the Orthodox and start looking for ways to unite. What an amazing Christian witness that would be.

theo
the us army is made up mostly of christians who JOINED up went to iraq to kill muslims and are still killing muslims.whats your point?
PS HOW WERE THE HOT DOGS?

The visit of the Pope to the Ecumencial Patriarch is historic. Their joint declaration, condemning killing in the name of faith, is a direct challenge to Muslim leaders to do something about what's being done in the name of theirs. The future prospects of these two largest Christian denominations, Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy, speaking with one voice against secularism and injustice, and in favor of the stewardship of this planet for futre generations, is right on point. It is the sleeper story of the decade, and will begin to unite Europe in how it faces both Muslim finaticism and secular decay, the two greatest threats to civilization in our time.

in the arctic it is dreamtime, and i am having one. 3 hours of daylight, 21 dark. a vision, but who can you tell? islam, judaism and christianity are at war. none the less, listen...a statement must be given, but who is there to listen? lord siva and buddha.
i dreamed a meteor impacted the earth, metaphorically, and the spirit was perplexed about which faith to deliver the message of salvation...one cannot offend the other.
dream on in faith.

BURTAN WOLFE
YOU SEEM TO KNOW A LOT ABOUT RELIGION MAYBE YOU COULD ENLIGHTEN THIS COLUMN ON WHAT THE JEWISH RELIGION SAYS ABOUT OWNING SLAVES?

P.S. I was a practicing roman catholic

Pilot didn't have Jesus (not Christ, he wasn't Christ until 80 years later) killed. He responded to the mob, like any politician. Of course, we're not as sure as you are that all this fits together as neatly as you would have it fit. Nonetheless, it doesn't prove anything at all about the irrational claims of people like you.

It doesn't prove a god -- any god -- exists, or that one book is more sacred than any other book, or that you get to tell me how to live my life right here in good old America. . . You don't. Only I get to do that. And I don't like you, I don't want to know you, I don't ever want have any sort of "dialogue" with you. Your opinions don't matter at all. Have a swell life Jaymee.

Your pal,

Bob

In the writings of Cornelius Tacitus, a first century Roman historian, he mentions both Pontius Pilate (the one who had Jesus crucified) and Christ in a historical context. This is itself proves Christ's existence. “Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus…” (Annales, Historiae, Chapter 15, paragraphs 54 and 55)

What I don't understand is how you can say that neither of these people (Christ and Muhammed) ever existed? There are millions of pieces of historical evidence that say the very opposite. You are just picking a fight and you cannot win.

The bottom line is that the major organized religions - Judaism in its various forms including the so-called "Christian" form, and Islam in all of its various forms - are all hogwash. None of their scriptures can be authenticated, since the original manuscripts and all of the original copies produced by copyists were lost or destroyed. No one knows what was in the the original versions. There are all kinds of mistranslations in the thousands of different versions of the Judaeo-Christian Bible and the Koran. Nor does it really matter. There is not a scrap of evidence that any of the stories told in the scriptures describe true events or that any of the principal characters - Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Noah, Moses, Jesus, Muhammad - actually existed. I challenge anyone and everyone to provide so much as a scrap of evidence, even the tiniest scrap, to disprove what I have said.

which 1Word best describes the difference between catholicism and islam...?

And then there was that beautiful prayer with the iam at the blue mosque. The vatican released a statement that the Pope felt that Turkey should take its place in the european union. Not exactly an endorsement but a vast difference than his stance against turkey in the eu. Finding their commonality in worship, also the Pope requested that christian minorities be given better treatment in muslim countries and this would be the best wat to accomplish his aims- killing them with kindness.
peace