Muslim Whining About The Pope

U.S. Muslims perceive slights, from the April 20, 2008 edition of the Washington Post:

...[M]any Muslims in America remain wary, saying the pope has created the impression that he is insensitive to their faith.

[...]

Some Muslim leaders invited to meet the pope in Washington declined, citing the controversies over the Regensburg lecture and conversion. "I didn't attend," said Salam al-Marayati, executive director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, who was invited to the interfaith meeting. "The invitation was to be involved in the ceremonies and the pageantry, but not in authentic, in-depth discussions on issues affecting Catholic-Muslim relations today."

There was no exchange in the meeting, according to participants, with Benedict delivering an address to the 200 leaders representing five faiths.

"It was not very interactive. It was not a two-way street," said Nihad Awad, a co-founder of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, who attended.

Pope Benedict didn't play the dhimmi to CAIR? Good! Besides, Pope Benedict's visit to the United States wasn't all about pleasing Muslims in the first place, nor was the visit about interfaithing.

So what is the Pope's position on interfaithing? According to the Washington Post article,

"[Pope Benedict is] very much in favor of interreligious dialogue," [Georgetown University theologian] Reese said. But, he added, the pope's "great fear is relativism. . . . I think his biggest fear is that Catholics will misinterpret interreligious dialogue as meaning all religions are the same."

Of course, not all religions are the same! And Pope Benedict is wise to be wary of interfaithing, which Muslims have a way of turning to Islam's advantage.