The paper's double standard on religion (criticize Christians, mollify Muslims [1]) continueswith Saturday's editorial, "The Pope's Words [2]," on Pope Benedict XVI's recent quotation of a 14th century Christian emperor that offended Muslims.
"Muslim leaders the world over have demanded apologies and threatened to recall their ambassadors from the Vatican, warning that the pope's words dangerously reinforce a false and biased view of Islam. For many Muslims, holy war - jihad - is a spiritual struggle, and not a call to violence. And they denounce its perversion by extremists, who use jihad to justify murder and terrorism."
Of course, it's the Muslims for whom jihad is a call to violence that are worrisome, not the "many Muslims" for whom it isn't.
"A doctrinal conservative,[Benedict's] greatest fear appears to be the loss of a uniform Catholic identity, not exactly the best jumping-off point for tolerance or interfaith dialogue.
"The world listens carefully to the words of any pope. And it is tragic and dangerous when one sows pain, either deliberately or carelessly. He needs to offer a deep and persuasive apology, demonstrating that words can also heal."
The Times doesn't mention past insults made by extremist Muslim leaders toward Christians and Jews.