Was the Pope right to apologize?

Defining religion, many scholars disagree, as the topic is indeed complicated. To facilitate some greater understanding we can expand our views, using the methodology of Ancient Greece and find the most predominant function – which in and of, itself must constitute some of the basic foundations of religion (and/or faith).

The most obvious elements are the devout worship, the act of having faith in a higher power, followed by a ritual of prayers and other exhibiting symptoms. However the exhibiting symptoms may not necessarily constitute any form of faith/religion. The “exhibiting symptoms” may be staged, orchestrated, imitated and therefore they must be given a place of a far lesser importance.

Now comes a point where we can all inquire based on our own private (non-scientific) observations, by asking what is it that we know to be a core of any religion? A significantly greater majority will answer that any religion’s most pronounced factor is benevolence (doing good, guarding, protecting). Let’s look at a few of the more recognizable Greek Gods:

1. Adonis: Greek hero and deity of Syro-Phoenician origin (Semitic adon ="lord" or "master"). The Phoenicians knew Adonis as Eshmun (qv). The Adonis cult was especially prominent in the Phoenician town of Byblos, and later spread to the Greek world through commercial contact. According to one Greek tradition Adonis was the result of an incestuous liaison in which Smyrna (Myrrha) deceived her father. Theias as to her identity (perhaps at the instigation of Aphrodite). Upon discovering the ruse, Theias pursued Smyrna, who was changed by the gods into a myrrh tree, which eventually split open and gave birth to Adonis. (In some versions it was Theias who split the tree open with his sword, in another it was a wild boar which split the tree open with its tusks.) Aphrodite discovered the youth and placed him in a cofferwhich she entrusted to the underworld goddess Persephone. Acting against Aphrodite's instructions, Persephone opened the coffer and was so smitten by the youth that she refused to return him to Aphrodite. Zeus was called in to arbitrate the dispute and determined that Adonis should spend one third of each year with each goddess, the remaining third left to his own discretion. In the end, Adonis elected to spend the remaining third of the year with Aphrodite. In another tradition, Adonis was said to have been killed by a boar while hunting and forced to spend a portion of each year in the underworld. In either case, Adonis fits the pattern of dying and resurrected vegetation gods in the eastern Mediterranean region such as the Egyptian Osiris, the Phrygian Attis and the Mesopotamian Dumuzi (Tammuz). Both the Phoenician and Greek myths retain this vegetation aspect. In the Greek world, festivals commemorating the death and resurrection of Adonis, known as Adonia, were celebrated after the harvest. A common practice during the Adonia was the planting of 'Adonis gardens' in the spring.

A significantly prominent positive God (perhaps a little too promiscuous for today’s standards, but largely a very loving God).

2. Athena - Greek goddess of wisdom and tutelary goddess of Athens. Also a goddess of war, peace and agriculture. In contrast to some of the other Greek gods, many of whom were famed for their rash and often ignoble acts, Athena was noted for her self-control and for many instances in which she aided human beings in their endeavors. Also, in contrast to the reckless passions of the other gods, Athena remained a virgin throughout her life, forming no romantic attachments. According to Hesiod, Athena sprang fully armed from the head of Zeus, who had swallowed her mother Metis (wisdom). In Pindar's version, it was Hephaistos who struck Zeus in the head with an axe to relieve the god's headache, wherupon Athena emerged. It was Hephaistos who later attempted to rape Athena, but she evaded him and his semen fell to the ground, giving birth to the serpent Erichthonius.Much of Athena's reputation as a war goddess is based on Homer's Iliad, where she took an active part in the fighting on the side of Greeks against the Trojans. In battle, she bore the aegis,the goat-skin shield upon which the head of Medusa was mounted. She generally proved more successful in battle than her brother Ares, the Greek war god who sided with the Trojans. Athena won the allegiance of Athens in a contest with Poseidon to determine who could bestow the greater gift upon humanity. Poseidon gave either the horse or a spring of water. Athena gave the olive, and won the contest, in consequence of which she gave her name to the city. The Acropolis, upon which the Parthenon was constructed in her honour, was said to be her dwelling place. Athens also honoured her in the Panathenaia festival, in which she seems to have figured as a vegetation goddess. She was referred to as Pallas Athene in her capacity as a protective goddess. Her icon, the palladium, was believed to protect the city from harm. In addition to the olive, Athena's gifts to humanity included the plough, the loom, and the flute. Among the many heroes to whom she gave assistance were Odysseus on his long voyage home from Troy, Perseus in killing the Medusa, Epeius in the construction of the wooden horse, and Herakles in his many labours.Her epithets included Parthenos (virgin), Promachos (protectress), Glaukopis (owl-eyed), Ergane (worker or craftsman) and Mechanitis (one who undertakes things). She was also known as Athena Polias in her capacity as goddess of the people or polity of Athens. The owl was the symbol both of Athena and Athens. She was also associated with the snake, and their is some speculation that she originated as a snake goddess, perhaps in Crete. Athena's worship was widespread, despite her close association with Athens.

Clearly another facet of a very loving, encouraging God(dess) in recognizing all Athena’s qualities – even with the ability to wage and command wars Athena main quality was wisdom.

3. Dionysos - ( Dionysus, Dionysius, Roman Bacchus )
Greek god of wine and intoxication. Son of Zeus and Semele (although Demeter is sometimes given as his mother). His consort was Ariadne. His cult is believed to have originated in either Thrace, Phrygia or perhaps Lydia. Hera, out of jealousy, is said to have tricked Semele into asking Zeus to reveal his divinity to her. When Zeus complied, his divine majesty was too great for Semele, who was destroyed by his thunderbolts. Zeus retrieved Dionysus from his lover's dead body and sewed him up in his thigh until he reached full term. As a result, Dionysus was known as Dithyrambos (twice born). Zeus then sent the infant to be raised by Semele's sister Ino and her husband Athamas at Orchomenus. Hera discovered the child's hiding place, and drove Ino and Athamas mad. However, Hermes spirited the infant away to be raised by the nymphs on the legendary mountain of Nysa. Dionysos was educated in the art of agriculture by Aristaeus. He was credited with having the introduction of the vine and the art of making wine. In some legends he was said to have descended to the underworld to bring back his mother Semele, and this presumably led to his role in Orphism, which equated him with Zagreus. His worship was characterized by orgiastic and often violent rites. His female worshippers, known as Bacchants or Maenads, ran and danced through the woods in a drunken frenzy bearing torches and thyrsus staves (made of vine leaves and ivy). The frenzy was believed to give them occult powers as well as superhuman strength, with which they were said to tear sacrificial animals to pieces. Dionysos' epithets included Bromios (thunderer), Lyaios (deliverer [from cares]), as well as Taurokeros (bull-horned) and Tauroprosopos (bull-faced) in reference to his incarnation as a bull at his feasts. Among his festivals were the Greater and Lesser Dionysia, the Anthesteria, the Agrionia and the Katagogia at Athens. Phallic symbolism was particularly prominent at the Dionysia, indicating that Dionysos was there being worshipped as a fertility god.

Pretty obviously a very, very benevolent God.

4. Eos - Greek goddess of the dawn. According to Hesiod she was the daughter of Hyperion and Theia, and the sister of Helios (sun) and Selene (moon). Homer refers to her as "rosy-fingered dawn". He said in his epic poem about Troy the morning dew was her tears shed for her son Memnon who fell at Troy. Hesiod gives her consort as the Titan Astraeus, by whom she was said to be the mother of winds Zephyrus (west),Notus (south), as well as of the evening star Hesperusm, and the morning star Eosphorus. Other versions make her the consort of Aeolos (storm and wind), and having given brith to all the winds, Boreoas (north) and Eutus (east) as well.

Self-evident benevolence.

5. Eros - Greek god of love and fertility. In Hesiod, he was said to have been born of Chaos. He was later said to be the son of Aphrodite and one of Ares, Hephaistos, Zeus or Hermes. Eros was accompanied by Pothos (longing) and Himeros (desire). Depicted as a winged youth, with bow and arrows. His arrows had the power to make both gods and mortals fall in love.

Practically impossible to have any God more benevolent than Eros.

6. Helios - "Sun". Greek sun god. According to Hesiod, he is the son of the Titans Hyperion and Theia. His siblings were Eos (dawn) and Selene (moon). He drove his four-horsed chariot across the sky each day from east to west, descending beneath the ocean at night and returning by its northern stream to the east. According to one story, Helios was absent when Zeus divided the world among the gods, and he was given the island of Rhodes, which had just risen from the sea, in compensation. Rhodes was the center of his cult, where he was the dominant deity at least as early as the 5th century BC. The famous Colossus of Rhodes was an image of Helios. A festival of Helios was also celebrated on Rhodes, during which a four-horsed chariot was driven off a cliff symbolizing the setting of the sun beneath the sea. He was depicted driving a four-horsed chariot, and with a halo of rays about his head. The Romans worshipped Helios as Sol.

7. Hygieia - Greek goddess of health. Daughter of Asklepios, the god of healing. Some later writers made her the consort of Asklepios. Her sacred animal was the snake, depicted drinking from a saucer or other drinking vessel held in her hand. Her worship spread to Rome in 293 BC, where she came to be identified with Salus.

8. Poseidon Greek god of the sea. Son of Kronos and Rhea. He and his siblings were swallowed by Kronos, but they were later rescued by their brother Zeus. The brothers Zeus, Poseidon and Hades later divided the world among themselves, with Poseidon receiving dominion over the sea. His chief consort was Amphitrite. Father of Antaios,Orion and Polyphemos. Poseidon was secondarily a god of mariners (to whom he may send storms or a fair voyage), of waters in general, and of earthquakes. In the latter capacity he was known as Enosigaios or Enosichthon, meaning "earth-shaker". Athena defeated Poseidon in their famous contest for the allegiance of Athens. While Poseidon offered humanity the boon of the horse, Athena offered the olive. Elsewhere, he helped Apollo build the walls of Troy. However, he became an implacable enemy of Troy after Laomedon refused to pay him, and he sided with the Greeks in the Trojan War. Poseidon was closely associated with horses as Hippios ("of horses"), and the horse was sacred to him. He fathered many famous horses, including the winged Pegasus by the Gorgon Medusa, and another winged horse, Areon, by Erinys. In Corinth, horse-races were held in his honour. On Argos horses were sacrificed to him by drowning in a whirlpool.Poseidon was generally depicted as an older, bearded man carrying a trident (the three-pronged fisherman's spear). There were temples at Cape Sunium, the southern-most tip of Greece, at Pylos in Crete, and Mount Mykale in Greek Anatolia. Freshwater springs were often consecrated to Poseidon as well. As an oracular deity, he had an oracle at Cape Tainairon and, according to one tradition, he was the first keeper of the oracle at Delphi. Regattas were held in his honor off Cape Sunium. Poseidon's chief festival was the Isthmia, scene of the Isthmian Games, celebrated near the Isthmus of Corinth.

9. Zeus - Supreme Greek god and head of the Greek pantheon. In addition Zeus functioned as a sky god or weather god, and as a god of justice and freedom. Son of the Titans Kronos and Rhea. Consort of Hera. His cult probably dates back to the Mycenean and Minoan civilizations. According to Homer, he lived on Mt. Olympus in Thessaly, where he gathered the other gods under his dominion. After his birth, Rhea saved the infant Zeus from being swallowed by Kronos along with his siblings by substituting a stone dressed in swaddling cloths. She then hid the child in a cave on the island of Crete, where the Kouretes performed a dance in which they clashed their weapons about him in order to drown out his cries. His nurse while in Crete was Amalthea, either a nymph or a goat. Upon reaching maturity, Zeus overthrew the Titans and forced Kronos to disgorge his siblings. Zeus then cast Kronos into Tartaros and established himself as head of a new pantheon in which he and his siblings had the most prominent roles. He divided dominion over the world with his brothers Poseidon and Hades. Zeus's sexual prowess was legendary, and he either seduced or forced himself upon numerous goddesses, nymphs, and mortal women, fathering countless children in the process. He assumed many different forms in pursuit of his numerous affairs. He appeared to Leda in the form of a swan, to Danae as a shower of gold, and to Europa as a white bull. Ares, Eleithyia and Hephaistos were the most prominent of his children by his official consort Hera, whom he originally seduced in the form of a cuckoo (although some sources say that it was Hera who seduced Zeus). He fathered Apollo and Artemis by Leto, Persephone by Demeter, Hermes by Maia,Dionysos by Semele, the Horai and Moirai by Themis, the Muses by Mnemosyne, and Herakles by Alkmene. Athena was also said to have been born from his forehead after he had swallowed Metis. Zeus may also have had a homosexual relationship with Ganymede, whom he made the cupbearer of the gods. The cult of Zeus was of universal significance in the Greek world, although his cult was often secondary in individual locations to the local tutelary deity, such as Athena in Athens. Greek households typically had statues of Zeus in their forecourts, and he was often associated with mountaintop shrines. He had temples in every Greek city, two of the more notable being in Athens and at Olympia. His most important festival was at Olympia. The oracle at Dodona in Epirus was dedicated to Zeus. He was depicted as a bearded and physically imposing man of middle age. His most common attributes were the thunderbolt and the eagle.

Clearly a most benevolent God.

10. Hera - Greek queen of heaven. Daughter of Kronos and Rhea. Sister and wife of Zeus. Mother of Ares, Hephaistos, Hebe and Eileithyia. Though widely worshipped throughout the Greek world, Hera was chiefly known as the jealous and often vindictive wife of the philandering Zeus. In her own right, she was worshipped as a goddess of marriage, of childbirth, and of the life of women in general. Her marriage was said to have resulted after Zeus seduced her in the form of a peacock, although in some versions it was Hera who seduced Zeus with the aid of a magic girdle. At Athens and Samos their marriage was celebrated as the hieros gamos ("sacred marriage"), even though the conduct of Zeus would seem to have made a mockery of this notion. The morality of Hera's conduct was also questionable by modern standards, as she mercilessly persecuted mortal women for the crime of having been raped by her husband. Her chief cult centre was at Argos, where the Heraeum boasted a statue of Hera in ivory and gold by Polycletus. Other important sanctuaries were at Athens and on Crete and Samos, although she had sanctuaries throughout the Greek world. A festival of women's games was also held in her honor every four years at Olympus. The cow and the peacock were sacred to her, and the apple and the pomegranate were her sacred fruits. She was often depicted as a matronly figure seated on a throne, bearing a diadem and a sceptre. In spite of Hera’s jealosy she was equally a benevolent God(des). Hera is the only God(des) known to man that had a pronounced malevolent streak.

We can skip most of the Roman Gods since they were (in most cases taken over from their Greek origins and just renamed, but maintained same virtues and drawbacks Aphrodite – Venera, Venus, Kronos – Saturn, Hermes – Mercury, etc.

Lastly we come with legacy of our Lord Jesus Christ, born a Hebrew carpenter in Judea during the time of Roman occupation of the entire Mediterranean basin (region). Christianity that followed accepted the first five books of the Hebrew Torah (the Pentateuch) which now accounts for what we call the Old Testament, followed by the writings of Christ’s disciples which is now known to us as the New Testament. After the birth of Christ, in Asia Minor and most today’s Europe there was only Judaism and Christianity. Islam began to exist only after the birth of Muhammad (the self-proclaimed prophet of Allah – God in Islam). It is a little peculiar that Islam suggests the world is divided into two parts (present and future Muslims) Dar el Islam (land of the faithful), and Dar el Harb (land of war) since the “infidels” (a generic term for all non-Muslims) must be converted to Islam. Let alone the fact that the very word Islam means submission in Arabic – so much for anything benevolent. Not only does Islam openly advocates murder, pillage, rape and conquests, Islam MANDATES IT. Here is a sample from a school book (age of 12 to 14):

Book of Abed, 9th grade, page 123,
A schoolbook for the 9th grade on Hadith introduces a famous narration known by the name, "The Promise of the Stone and the tree." It tells a story about Abu Hurayra, one of the Prophet's companions who quoted the Prophet as saying: "The hour (the day of Judgement) will not come until the Muslims fight the Jews and Kill them. A Jew will hide behind a rock or a tree, and the rock or tree will call upon the Muslim: "O Muslim, O slave of Allah! There is a Jew behind me, come and kill him!-except for the gharqad tree, for it is one of the trees of the Jews". The Hadith is accompanied by a number of statements:
1. "It is Allah's wisdom that the struggle between Muslims and Jews shall continue until the Day of Judgment."
2. "The Hadith brings forth the glad tidings about the ultimate victory, with Allah's help, of Muslims over Jews."
3. "The Jews and the Christians are the enemies of the believers. They will not be favorably disposed toward Muslims and it is necessary to be cautious (in dealing with them).

Let’s go back to the original question again: Does any religion have the clear advocating of murder? Can any religion be called “benevolent” if it does advocate murder, pillage, rape, etc? Absolutely not. Therefore Islam is a violent cult at best, not nearly a religion. The Kuran itself is replete with verbatim copies from both the Bible and the Torah – there is barely a few new sentences added here and there – therefore Islam as a religion has been largely based on both Judaism and Christianity without anything new – except for the violent nature of conversion, unusual degree of brutality, lack of forgiveness and lack of much benevolence. Unlike all other religions Islam equally lacks the idea of Heaven or an afterlife where good deeds are rewarded. Clearly Islam can only be a cult, sadly enough on the same level as Charles Manson’s family of Helter Skelter. A grouping of generalized beliefs that are found in Islam have been known to mankind since the Greek times and there is not one single new aspect nor is there any presence of a divine being with a degree of forgiveness, benevolence, tolerance and peace. Without those elements such a school of thought can NOT be considered a religion irrespective of the number of temples made with or without minarets, etc.

The most recent spat where the Pope chose to apologize for having quoted Manuel II Paleologist, an Eastern Orthodox Christian who openly stated in the 14th Century that Islam has brought nothing of value to the world since its inception in the 6th and 7th Century. That same truth is more evident today than it was in the 14th Century and the Pope had absolutely no reason to offer any explanation or apology, except to sustain a better, longer lasting harmony among faiths with hope of not giving Islam a pretext for employing their life threatening methodology.