[Balky001]

You are right about perception. In many parts of the Middle East they feel the same about Christianity and the murderous crusaders and imperialist views of the West.

It's difficult to judge a persons religion of way of life by the standards of another but Islam as a religion has got a seriously poor PR image in the West at the moment - wasn't so bad when the Commies were threatening us of course! But then Judaism and Christianity has a bad PR image in many parts of the world too.

The Pope is entitled to his view, but a personal view should not be confused with a public statement (from someone of such high ranking and influence) or address and he has a responsibility to ensure his millions of followers are clear in what he was preaching. If he wanted to condemn violence on religious beliefs there are thousands of example he could have used where Catholicism was guilty, but he had to pick a quote that condemned another religion - if it had been about Jews, Protestants or Sikhs their reactions would probablt have been the same.

A generalisation about all religions would have been better and not ostracised the very people he should be engaging in this debate. Whilst Pope Benedict may have been using this as just an example, many of his devout followers will treat Islam with even more suspicion and lets be honest, those who are devoutly religious aren't often open to others views when it comes to God and Prophets.

It would be better if people just believed in God (if they want to) and be done with the rest.