Pope Benedict learning the meaning of "politically incorrect"

Pope Benedict learned a valuable lesson. Never ever make statements that portray the Prophet Muhammad as anything but a loving and gentle prophet of God whose actions in life were necessary to promote his new religion of peace -- displayed above on the left. His marriage to a nine year-old girl (and ten other "women") is largely fictional, according to Muslims outside of the Middle East as is his reputation as a person who espoused spreading the faith through the sword.

By the way, a very devout Muslim in Saudi Arabia said that Muhammad's youngest wife was not nine; she was eleven -- or at least that they didn't have conjugal relations until she was eleven. Also, he took her as a wife because she had lost her parents or something like that. I don't remember the exact story as regards why he married her.

And further, he reminded me that Muhammad had a total of eleven wives and the older ones often looked after the younger ones. His charity towards these women and girls is often misunderstood by Westerners and other non-Muslims.

There are excellent books about the Quran that carefully soften the tone of the Quran as written in Arabic, and it's these books that Pope Benedict should read should he want to avoid being the target of a Fatwah. The Muslims with whom I spoke about Muhammad in Saudi Arabia, for example, made it clear that Muhammad never had more wives than were necessary by the many-to-one ratio of women (girls) to men worldwide.

Mohammad Al Reeshi, a fine young officer in the Royal Saudi Air Force made a strong point of the fact that the one-to-one ratio between the sexes promulgated by Western propaganda was just that -- misleading propaganda. (And on this, I am not kidding!) He said that the current ratio is roughly four women for every one man worldwide.

In any event, Pope Benedict (below right) saw the error of his ways and apologized for quoting an obscure Byzantine emperor from medieval times in a recent speech. Muhammad was certainly not someone who introduced "evil and inhuman" teachings to Muslims. The beheadings of Pakistanis (mostly Pakis while I was there) in Saudi Arabia are supported by Republicans and other more conservative persons even in the West and multiple marriages (by men only) in some Western religions over the centuries give credibility to his prophetic insights. Even today, in America, there are small non-Muslim towns in the West that subscribe to multiple wives.

Islam's thesis that Christians and Jews are too soft in their treatment of sin is a main thesis of the current neocons who let all Hell break out in Iraq after the wonderful night of Shock and Awe, for instance.

"These words were, in fact, a quotation from a medieval text which do not reflect my personal thoughts" Pope Benedict stated over this past weekend. "I hope that this serves to appease hearts and to clarify the true meaning of my address."

Unfortunately, several have died since he made the unfortunate statement/quote, including one Roman Catholic nun in a hospital in Somali -- an act of genuine peace by members of Islam, the Religion of Peace. That nun is at "perfect peace" today with Our Lord. It's a matter of "understanding" of the peace and beauty of Islam that is needed more than anything in these troubled times.