Well, there's no way I could avoid posting on this now is there? It has been a very busy morning, so I didn't hear of this until I tuned into Laura Ingraham's show a few minutes ago. Is anyone really surprised? Seriously? It's not the first time Islam has attacked Christianity, nor is it the first time it has assailed the Pope. What should be of note, is that as early as the 14th century educated men were discussing Islamic militancy. This is a militancy that carries over to cartoons, to speech, to anything that offends Muslims. In effect, we are already living under mild self imposed Sharia law. Since I'm feeling lazy, here are links to most of the articles from LGF. What can we do but shake our heads in pity? I suppose we could burn effigies of Mohammed, or any of the other numerous modern day militant leaders of Islam. Could that provoke more violence and outrage than printing cartoons? Who knows. As usual, the Anchoress has some great insight from a Catholic perspective. I am not especially saddened to see the brouhaha that is gaining strength over Benedict’s speech. Whether he is “media savvy” or not, Benedict has managed - in his very scholarly fashion - to apply a very hot drawing poultice to the enormous and festing boils of both radical Islamism and rampant secularism. At the very least, it will cause some Muslims to insist that distinctions be made between them and their more extreme co-religionists, and it may rouse the West to examine how cavalierly it has tossed off the “shackles” of Christianity only to open itself up to the scimitar. Perhaps some will look at the spires of their great cathedrals and wonder if they really want to see them replaced with minarets. Some great links from The Cafeteria is Closed. Fr. Martin Fox has a good point: The more interesting point the holy father raised in his talk dealt precisely with the very possibility of dialogue -- and I think what he said in that regard is really what infuriates those who are stoking the fury of the Muslim faithful. Pro Ecclesia has excellent commentary here. Will update more later today should anything significant happen with this story other than the usual car burnings, effigy burnings, and general rioting.