If anyone is out of place in the 21st century, its people like this author, who quake at the possibility of angering a street mob of mad men.

While the Pope could have remembered he is a world leader now, and not a Cardinal, is violence is an acceptable response? Are our standards that low? Do we need to walk on eggshells constantly because of the possibility of crazed (oh I mean peaceful) mobs?

Perhaps Miss or Mrs. Bunting should put on her own burka. If anyone is a walking anachronism it’s her.

It’s these people who make it difficult for reasonable liberals.

It seems that the only people that care what the Pope is saying are those belonging to religions other than Christianity. How very ironic! Education is the best antidote to the sickness called religion. The more educated a people the less superstitious (i.e, religious) they are. So let's try to make sure eveybody can read and write, has access to higher education and reproductive freedom (especially women!) and the problem will eventually go away. Until then

Religion is 'a disease born of fear and a source of untold misery to the human race.'

- Bertrand Russell (1930)

I was mistaken. I had no idea that Salon Letters were actually an academic journal requiring all seriousness, politesse, citations, and nothing flip or casual. *eye roll*

It is important to remember that Mohammed the Military General extolled his followers to convert by the sword. He was a violent man and his message was violent. Muslims today who believe that religious is a peaceful one, have departed from its history (not that anyone should complain). On the other hand, Jesus was a peaceful man who adviced his followers to turn the other cheek. Christians who throughout history have committed great acts of violence were ignoring their own God's message and can be dismissed as not "real" Christians, who sought to use the cover of a popular movement for their own selfish ends. However, it is inescapable conclusion that Muslims who seek to do violence to do those who insult their religion are simply following in the footsteps of Mohammed.

As neither a Christian or Muslim, I can both recognize the stupidity of the Pope's theological musings in public - regardless of their accuracy - given the Muslims' predictable violent reaction and also feel despair that the world is expected to be held captiveby the threat of violence from the less stable elements of the Muslim community everytime they get their feelings hurt.

What ultimately underlies this article is an apparent lack of respect for Muslims by the author. She seems to view them as children, who do not yet understand how to manage their own emotions and cannot be held responsible for their own actions. Were the Pope's words insensitive? Unintelligent given the current social climate? Of course they were. But the response has been far worse than the original offense.

"An elderly Catholic nun has already been killed in Somalia, perhaps in retaliation for the pope's remarks; churches have been attacked in the West Bank. How is this papal stupidity going to play out in countries such as Nigeria, where the tensions between Catholics and Muslims frequently flare into riots and death? Or other countries such as Pakistan, where tiny Catholic communities are already beleaguered? Or the Muslim minorities in Catholic countries such as the Philippines -- how comfortable do they feel this week?"

The article suggests that the Pope caused the violence. Excuse me, but the people carrying out the violence are ultimately responsible for their actions.

The author writes, "Even the most cursory knowledge of dialogue with Islam teaches -- and as a Vatican cardinal, Pope Benedict XVI would have learned this long ago -- that reverence for the Prophet is non-negotiable. What unites all Muslims is a passionate devotion and commitment to protecting the honor of Mohammed." Pardon me, but so what? The title of the article references the Dark Ages. What age exactly, are we in, when violence is a legitimate response for offending a group's religious beliefs?

There's something darker than irony in the fact that the Pope's comments on one faith (although, IMHO they were regarding how a religion can ethically convert others) have been taken as insensitivity towards Islam, and are now spurring all manner of insensitivity towards Catholocism.

And there's nothing like Salon (ok, except maybe Slate) for finding someone insensitive and academic enough to fan the flames.

Oy Vey!

How pathetic when words and cartoons can bring tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of Muslims to the streets with an anger that is palpable. We now know they have the infrastructure to mobilize, but we have yet to see that same mobilization when a journalist gets his head sawed off.

If the Catholic faith is back in the Dark Ages, where would that put these radical Muslims? I believe it IS a clash of cultures:

In the West: "Sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me."

In the Muslim Middle East: "Sticks and stones will break your bones if you say anthing that offends my religion. And, that includes cartoons, you infidel."

In this article, Madeleine Bunting says: "It was a gratuitous reawakening of the most entrenched and self-serving of Western prejudices -- that Muslims have a unique proclivity to violence, a claim that has no basis in history or in current world events (a fact that still eludes too many Westerners)."

In a subsequent paragraph she states: "An elderly Catholic nun has already been killed in Somalia, perhaps in retaliation for the pope's remarks; churches have been attacked in the West Bank."

It seems to me that the second statement directly contradicts the first one. If Muslims do not have a tendency to violence in the name of their religion, why is the first reaction to any critical statement a violent attack and/or threats of violence?

In response to the Pope's remarks, Muslim leaders compared the Pope to Hitler and Mussolini. Where are the Catholic riots in response to these insults? Where are the Catholics burning effigies of Muslim leaders and firebombing Muslim places of worship? The answer: Catholics have responded to insults peacefully, even in the face of violent responses from the Islamic world.

If Islam is such a peaceful religion, perhaps its followers could begin acting in a peaceful way and refrain from killing journalists, filmmakers, and elderly nuns.

Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will bring on global jihad.