Unbelievable. It was only a matter of time.

It looks to me that in my cursory search, FoxNews is the only one that hasn’t blown by this story.

NABLUS, West Bank — Two West Bank Christian churches were hit by firebombs early Saturday, and a group claiming responsibility said it was protesting Pope Benedict XVI’s remarks about Islam.

Relations between Palestinian Muslims and Christians are generally peaceful, and clergy played down the attacks on an Anglican and a Greek Orthodox church in the city of Nablus as isolated incidents.

But they said they’d worry if more Christian sites are targeted. On Friday, two small explosions went off near a Greek Orthodox church in Gaza, causing minor damage.

“It is easy to worry,” Father Yousef Saada, a Roman Catholic priest in Nablus, said Saturday. “The atmosphere is charged already, and the wise should not accept such acts.”

The firebombs left black scorch marks on the walls and windows of the two Nablus churches. At least five firebombs hit the Anglican church.

In a phone call to The Associated Press, a group calling itself the “Lions of Monotheism” claimed responsibility. The caller said the attacks were meant as a protest against the pope’s remarks about Islam.

…

Muslims are protesting the Pope’s use of a 14th century quotation about Muhammed’s teachings that characterized what “new” teachings he brought about God as “evil and inhuman,” what they call an insult to their faith, with violent (some might say “evil and inhuman”) attacks against Christian churches.

Notice that the two churches attacked were not Catholic - they were Greek Orthodox and Anglican. Good to know that we are dealing with equal opportunity retaliators - if you are even close to being Catholic (really, if you are not Muslim), we will firebomb you.

Also note that the group claiming responsibility is named, “Lions of Monotheism.” This interests me because, as I noted yesterday, one of the criticisms of the Pope was that he was claiming Christian faith’s superiority over Islam. If any group name screams superiority to me, it is “Lions of Monotheism.” Reasons not least of which being that all three major religions - Islam, Christianity, and Judaism - are monotheistic. It is quite obvious which monotheistic god this group finds superior.

As of yet, the Pope has not caved and given an apology - even though you might not know it from certain headlines -

Compare this at CNN.com:

…and this at BBC.co.uk:

and

with this headline at FoxNews.com:

CNN and BBC’s headlines make it sound as if the Pope has apologized for offending Muslims. FoxNews’ headline is less misleading. The statement released by the Vatican reads:

Concerning the reaction of Muslim leaders to certain passages of the Holy Father’s address at the University of Regensburg, it should be noted that what the Holy Father has at heart — and which emerges from an attentive reading of the text — is a clear and radical rejection of the religious motivation for violence.

It was certainly not the intention of the Holy Father to undertake a comprehensive study of the jihad and of Muslim ideas on the subject, still less to offend the sensibilities of Muslim faithful.

Quite the contrary, what emerges clearly from the Holy Father’s discourses is a warning, addressed to Western culture, to avoid “the contempt for God and the cynicism that considers mockery of the sacred to be an exercise of freedom” (homily, Sept. 10). A just consideration of the religious dimension is, in fact, an essential premise for fruitful dialogue with the great cultures and religions of the world.

And indeed, in concluding his address in Regensburg, Benedict XVI affirmed how “the world’s profoundly religious cultures see this exclusion of the divine from the universality of reason as an attack on their most profound convictions. A reason which is deaf to the divine and which relegates religion to the realm of subcultures is incapable of entering into the dialogue of cultures.”

What is clear then, is the Holy Father’s desire to cultivate an attitude of respect and dialogue toward other religions and cultures, including, of course, Islam.

And further:

Reading the statement, new Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone said the Pope’s position on Islam was in line with Vatican teaching that the Church “esteems Muslims, who adore the only God”.

“The Holy Father is very sorry that some passages of his speech may have sounded offensive to the sensibilities of Muslim believers,” the statement said.

Basically - I’m sorry you were offended, not for what I said. I do hope he sticks it out.

Related Posts:

Occidentality predicts that this “apology” somehow won’t be satisfying for most- indeed, it hasn’t been:

“We do not accept the apology through Vatican channels …”

Michelle Malkin notes a picture circulating in some Muslim portions of the internet, which portrays the pope’s likeness (kind of), calls for his beheading, and reads further:

“Swine and servant of the cross, worships a monkey on a cross, hateful evil man, stoned Satan, may Allah curse him, blood-sucking vampire.”

Monkey on a cross huh? I guess that’s okay. Glad they desire mutual respect of faiths.

Allahpundit at Hot Air reports that the NYT is calling for a papal apology.

And at last, I would like to know what’s up with these thumbnails at Fox:

It must be Sinister Saturday over there or something.

Posted by casey on Saturday, September 16th, 2006 at 10:52 am.