Pope Baptizes Prominent Italian Muslim

Now this is something I doubt you will ever hear on the Today Show or Good Morning America. We've heard alot about everyday people converting to Islam and then expressing support for extremist elements. But when have we heard of the exact opposite occurring? When have we heard about a Muslim converting to Christianity because he/she opposed extremist elements?

It happened in Italy. From TownHall.com.com:

Italy's most prominent Muslim, an iconoclastic writer who condemned Islamic extremism and defended Israel, converted to Catholicism Saturday in a baptism by the pope at a Vatican Easter service. An Egyptian-born, non-practicing Muslim who is married to a Catholic, Magdi Allam infuriated some Muslims with his books and columns in the newspaper Corriere della Sera newspaper, where he is a deputy editor. He titled one book "Long Live Israel." ... Allam, 55, told the newspaper Il Giornale in a December interview that his criticism of Palestinian suicide bombing provoked threats on his life in 2003, prompting the Italian government to provide him with a sizable security detail. ... Allam also explained his decision to title a recent book "Viva Israele" by saying he wrote it after he received death threats from Hamas. "Having been condemned to death, I have reflected a long time on the value of life. And I discovered that behind the origin of the ideology of hatred, violence and death is the discrimination against Israel. Everyone has the right to exist except for the Jewish state and its inhabitants," he said. "Today, Israel is the paradigm of the right to life."

Interesting.

You can access the complete article on-line here:

Pope Baptizes Prominent Italian Muslim
Nicole Winfield
TownHall.com
March 22, 2008