Muslims and the pope
Nov 30th 2006
From The Economist

Christians in the Muslim world need support from Muslims in the Christian world

“WELL, it was time somebody spoke up, wasn't it?” Quite a few Westerners, by no means all of them Christians or fans of the Vatican, will have muttered something like that as they watched Pope Benedict touring Turkey and speaking up for the rights of Christians and other non-Muslims.

By linking Turkey's hope of a European future to a change in its attitude to minority faiths, the pope has given heart to a growing body of people who demand “reciprocity” in relations between the Muslim world and the West. Their argument is that since Muslim minorities are free to practise their faith in historically Christian countries, the Western world should expect Muslim countries to show more respect for the rights of local Christians (and, indeed, Jews). the rest