Okay, so since I work in the media, maybe I'm just a little bit more sensitive than the next person. I mean, these are educated people, right? So why do they insist on using certain terms inappropriately? All they do is confuse the general population and mislead them with beliefs that are not factual. So the big story on CNN.com today is how Pope Benedict XVI baptized a "prominent Muslim" into Christianity yesterday.
Okay, first of all, this guy is/was not a Muslim. He was Egyptian. Big difference here people. This Egyptian was never a practicing Muslim and was raised in Roman Catholic schools. So why is he labeled a "Muslim"? Oh, I guess it's b/c his parents were/are Muslim---my mistake.
Second, the guy is in the media business! He is an editor for an Italian newspaper. I don't care what his views are politically or religiously, but he needs to speak up and clarify for the media outlets that are too lazy to dig for the real facts. Don't worry, I know this guy will never say anything........quid pro quo.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/03/22/pope.muslim.convert.ap/index.html?iref=newssearch
Apparently, being born to a Muslim family and escorting his mother to Mecca for Hajj makes him a Muslim in the eyes of the media *shrug* Allah knows best.
Until the media gets it right, our neighbors will forever be confused about Muslims and Jews and the differences between religion and race. Anyone ever notice they never mix up Buddhists with Asians or Hindus with Indians. Or a white guy from Wisconsin is never labeled "A White Christian Males Storms Mall with Gun!"
Fast forward a few days and here's what we have: people are starting to question the motives!
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080324/wl_nm/pope_muslim_dc_3
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2 comments:
Salaam!
I'm surprised a story like this even makes news. People convert all the time to different religions (to Islam, or to Christianity for example.) Seems to me like much ado about nothing. Not something that will rock the Muslim world... probably makes more Muslims happy anyway that such a person no longer claims to be Muslim.
There's a story about a man, a tribal leader who while going around the Ka'ba bumped into another man who was poor, and he got angry at the poor man and slapped him. The case was brought to the caliph, 'Umar bin al-Khattab, who told the tribe leader that he had to let the poor man slap him back, so it would only be fair. He told 'Umar he wanted 3 days to think about it... and in that time he ran off to Syria and joined the Christians! Why? He didn't like the justice of Islam, which made the leader equal to the poor man, who might have even been a slave. So he left Islam to join the Christians. No big loss, I think... but like you say: God knows best.
Oh my! Seriously? That's ridiculous. I agree about it being much ado about nothing. I thought some of the thoughts were right on. Like why wasn't he baptized in his hometown, by his own priest. Why the Pope? Seems like media hype to me. The labels still irk me.
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