Netherlands Bishop: Time To Ban Word “God” And Use Only “Allah” To Appease Muslims
MSNBC:
AMSTERDAM - A Roman Catholic Bishop in the Netherlands has proposed people of all faiths refer to God as Allah to foster understanding, stoking an already heated debate on religious tolerance in a country with one million Muslims.
Bishop Tiny Muskens, from the southern diocese of Breda, told Dutch television on Monday that God did not mind what he was named and that in Indonesia, where Muskens spent eight years, priests used the word “Allah” while celebrating Mass.
“Allah is a very beautiful word for God. Shouldn’t we all say that from now on we will name God Allah? … What does God care what we call him? It is our problem.”
A survey in the Netherlands’ biggest-selling newspaper De Telegraaf on Wednesday found 92 percent of the more than 4,000 people polled disagreed with the bishop’s view, which also drew ridicule.
“Sure. Lets call God Allah. Lets then call a church a mosque and pray five times a day. Ramadan sounds like fun,” Welmoet Koppenhol wrote in a letter to the newspaper.
Gerrit de Fijter, chairman of the Protestant Church in the Netherlands, told the paper he welcomed any attempt to “create more dialogue”, but added: “Calling God ‘Allah’ does no justice to Western identity. I see no benefit in it.”
A spokesman from the union of Moroccan mosques in Amsterdam said Muslims had not asked for such a gesture.
Religious tensions on the rise
Signs of tension had already surfaced in the last two weeks after the head of a committee for former Muslims was attacked and populist anti-immigration politician Geert Wilders called for the Koran to be banned.
Bishop Muskens, who will shortly retire, has raised eyebrows in the past with suggestions that those who are hungry may steal bread and that condoms should be permissible in the fight against HIV and AIDS.
Some Dutch Muslims welcomed his comments as a valuable gesture of support coming just days after Wilders branded the Quran a “fascist book” in the vein of Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” which legitimizes violence.
Wilders, whose new party won nine seats out of the 150 in parliament in last November’s elections, is well known for his firebrand remarks on Islam.
He said an attack by two Moroccans and a Somali on the head of a Dutch group for “ex-Muslims” had spurred him to write.
Issues of immigration and integration had faded from the Dutch political agenda over the last year, after a period of unprecedented social tension sparked by the 2004 murder of Theo Van Gogh, a filmmaker critical of Islam, by a Muslim militant.
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Good Christ!!!
Can’t wait to hear the Vatican’s response to this.
August 15th, 2007 at 1:06 pmWho listens to pedophiles….
August 15th, 2007 at 1:06 pmThis figures…what a bunch of weenies! Appeasement is all these fools can come up with.
August 15th, 2007 at 1:10 pmThese stinking weasely, wimpy, spineless freaks. I’m “allah” done with this B.S. I have not, nor ever will kiss the rump of a muslim (or anyone else for that matter) to make them feel better about me. What a ridiculous joke. As if that would change anything with these demented muslim fanatic freaks anyway.
This Catholic Bishop is willing to deny the essence of WHO he is and what his religion is all about to make some terrorist like him more. Sounds like he has always been a coward hiding behind a black cape and it is coming out even more-so now. And for this Bishop to say “…it’s OUR problem” is offensive as well.
Hey Bishop!! Don’t you DARE EVER decide for us what is or is not OUR problem. You are a coward, sir and you have spoken only for yourself.
August 15th, 2007 at 1:12 pmOh yes this sounds like a great idea.
August 15th, 2007 at 1:14 pmI would totally agree with this if we could all refer to the robes their women wear as a ninja outfit.
August 15th, 2007 at 1:34 pmI respectfully refuse to acquiesce to that request.
I WILL NOT SUBMIT!
August 15th, 2007 at 1:36 pmHey pat you need a puking yellow face cus this shit is sickening
August 15th, 2007 at 2:58 pmThe guys on lgf were talking about pointing the pews towards mecca. hahaha. appeasement is the worst, the muslims don’t appease us worth shit. We all just have to move aside for them.
August 15th, 2007 at 3:02 pmbleh, I claim no connection to catholocism anymore. I was baptized in a catholic church, now that church is overun with mexicans and the masses are in spanish. The Catholic Church has failed Europe, get rid of them and lets get a new one.
August 15th, 2007 at 3:07 pm[…] August 15th, 2007 Post From Pat Dollard’s Blog. […]
August 15th, 2007 at 3:12 pmThey’re taking over inch by inch.
Not only the U.S., but all free nations in the World better Wake Up !! And Quick!!!
August 15th, 2007 at 3:16 pmSo there is a Dhimi bishop in the Netherlands trying to kiss some muj ass. Got two words for him and they rhyme with “duck stew.”
August 15th, 2007 at 3:19 pmHad anyone suggested that Muslims refer to God as Yahweh they would have gone on a rampage destroying property belonging to infidels.
August 15th, 2007 at 3:44 pmDidn’t learn their lessen last time when Holland appease the Germans! Well if they are going to appease again then next time Holland gets invaded don’t bother to call us to bail them out. Stupid is as stupid does…..
August 15th, 2007 at 4:23 pmAnd this guy calls himself Christian?!!!!!
August 15th, 2007 at 5:31 pmDisgusting and pathetic all at the same time. Spineless . . .
Complacency Kills! Appeasement will be the death
of the western world.
What will it take for them to learn that being “friends” with people who want to kill them if they do not submit to their religion is not a option?
It would be laughable except that idiot Bishop is serious.
August 15th, 2007 at 9:14 pmI expect the far-tougher Pope Ratzinger will excommunicate this cowardly Dutch “bishop” forthwith.
August 15th, 2007 at 11:05 pmWelcome to the Eurabian Union. SSG Duke 54, you’re dam right. Bailing them out twice, ain’t going to happen a third. They’re on their own.
August 15th, 2007 at 11:40 pmbanning the koran sounds like a good idea, tearing down mosques will be good, cutting the tongues out of the clerics that preach hate will be good
August 16th, 2007 at 4:43 amGod yahweh, elohim, allah, they all mean the same as God, however, they also depict a certain belief system as well. For all the education and training priests get, particularly bishops, they should know to consider all the implications when altering language. this bishop like few before him has been known to teach against catholic teachings, which only causes scandal within the church and lead people to lose their faith. I met a priest who refered to God as Mother in order to appease feminists, but he alienated so many others and distracted people from the central focus of christian worship: Jesus in the eucharist.
He reminds me of auxiliary Bishop Gumble in the detroit archdiocese who makes it abundantly clear that he doesnt comport with most church teachings, he revels in his rebelious nature, and preaches during mass contrary to the churchs teachings. these are people who have a void in their life and must fill it with a lust for attention.
The church knows about them and continuosly reprimands them, many have been excommunicated or left the church, others , like gumbelton, they are wqaiting for him to die.
Oh and Irish Gal the answer to your question is : Muslims do. Muhammed’s second wife was a child of 6 years whom he had sex with at the age of 9. (see hadith Buhkari, and tabari)
August 16th, 2007 at 9:20 pm