The January 2007 issue of the Defence Journal reproduced a document called the 'Open Letter to His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI' (pp.61-66), in 'defence' of Islam/Islamic values and in response to the Pope's Regensburg lecture of September 2006. A lot has happened since then, including an apology from the Pope and his visit to Turkey, and it seems that a more thorough analysis is required of the whole crisis or issue, in historical perspectives, related to the broader contexts of inter-civilizational exchange(s). Of particular interest and relevance is the misconception that prevails in the West that Islam is a 'violent' (or 'Jihadi' as the present terminology would have it) religion.
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