Hi, Mark - I get a little nervous about the current trend of demands for apologies for past offenses. I'm not sure it does any good - I think it tends to de-legitimize the current good efforts of an organization, because of some offense in the past. I'm a Roman Catholic, and I'm quite aware of the antisemitism and other prejudice my church had in the past. In the past 50 years of more, it has done an admirable job of promoting justice for all religious and ethnic groups - why dwell on the past? And yes, there are still Catholics who use their religion as an excuse for their bigotry - but am I bound to apologize or take responsibility for them if I have taken no part in their conduct?
For that matter, I disagree with the Pope's refusal to ordain women and view it as sexism hiding behind the veil of papal authority - as a Catholic, am I bound to apologize and take responsibility for a sexist policy I do not support?

Same goes with Muslims, or with anyone - we can expect them to take responsibility for the things they do or support themselves or the things that they can affect - but it's unfair for us to hold others to responsible for every wrong done in the name of their belief.

Let's not go overboard in expecting apologies.

-Joe Offer-