[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 13]
[House]
[Page 18479]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




             THE POPE AND FREE SPEECH AND RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

  (Mr. POE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. POE. Madam Speaker, over the last few days, radical Muslims 
burned the Pope in effigy, destroyed churches in Israel, preached 
hatred against the Pope and Christians, and cowardly killed a 65-year-
old nun, shooting her four times in the back. So much for nonviolence 
by these radical Muslims.
  All this because the Pope quoted a Byzantine emperor from the 1400s 
who commented on Muhammad's purported command ``to spread by the sword 
the faith he preached.'' The Pope, of course, was not agreeing with 
this Byzantine emperor. The Pope was promoting discourse among all 
religions.
  But when the feelings of these radicals get hurt, we overreact, blame 
ourselves and apologize. That is what the Pope did.
  I question whether the Pope should have even apologized. So much for 
free speech, so much for religious freedom, and so much for 
nonviolence.
  In our world, hypocritical, radical Muslims may preach hate and 
violence against Christians and Jews, but heaven forbid anybody mention 
or quote slightly negative comments about radical Muslims, because this 
extremist sect will react with violence to prove just how nonviolent 
they are.
  And that's just the way it is.

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