From slate.com

By Roger McShane, posted Sunday, Sept. 17, 2006: "The pope's suggestion that compulsion and violence are inherent features of Islam has outraged the Muslim world. In Afghanistan, where apostates are subject to execution, the parliament and the Foreign Ministry demanded an apology. In Yemen, where religious conversion is punishable by death, the president has threatened to sever diplomatic ties. In the West Bank, Palestinians attacked four churches with guns and firebombs. And a Somali cleric added his two cents: 'Whoever offends our Prophet Muhammad should be killed on the spot by the nearest Muslim.'"

Is it me, or did Roger McShane just cite examples of the Islamic world's response to the pope that themselves reaffirm the pope's characterization of the religion?

If the pope did suggest that compulsion and violence are inherent features of Islam -- and I am not saying that he did -- then I would disagree with him. But I think it's pretty clear that Roger McShane would not.