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Well, I've worked with Hindus in the Information Technology industry, and this has helped me come to some conclusions are regarding all these issues. Working with different ethnic groups is very illuminating. I've learned a lot. Having said that, I have to ask the same question the Hindus do: Where is the fatwa against Mr. bin Laden and his supporters? We see constantly that fatwas are issued against America, Israel, and one group of Moslems against another. Left, right and center they're thrown out. We don't see one against Mr. bin Laden. Some of these moderate guys have the backbones of microbes. I have to say, in their defense, that they've got families, and Mr. bin Laden has shown he'll blow anybody up.

We don't even see a fatwa issued in countries where you'd think the threat of terrorism against moderates would be nil. Kinda disgusting, if you ask me. I've been asked my one Moslem buddy why no fatwa? He was honest, and said that many Moslems are fence sitting on this one. The religious leaders won't issue a fatwa for fear of being shunned, killed, or worse, being thrown out of Islam.

When I was getting my MBA, I dated a Egyptian Moslem, and she told me that for it to go further, I had to convert to Islam. I tried to tell her that well, couldn't we just coexist, since I'm not religious? Nope. Doesn't work that way. Religiously mixed marriages are "verboten." And I would have to convert before we continued, whether or not it got serious. Funny, she didn't have problems drinking alcohol or other things. :-)

Sadly, I've come to the conclusion that my Hindu friends have been pushing on me for 5 years. And that is that Moslems more or less regard us all as infidels. Doesn't look like coexistence is high on their priority list. I would say that only a small percentage of Moslems are fanatical like Mr. bin Laden, but I gotta tell ya, it sure looks like they all tend to be somewhat clannish, like the Hatfields and McCoys.

Another thing pointed out to me. In any country around the world that has a significant Moslem minority (outside of Turkey and Bosnia, which are more westernized than the rest of the Moslem world) you soon see calls for the imposition of Moslem sharia law. Regardless of the feelings of the majority. This has been a source of the contention in Nigeria, and was a reason for the coup in the Sudan. And in the areas in Nigeria where Moslems are the majority, they impose this law anyway, despite what the central government says. In the Sudan the Moslem clerics have given permission for selling Christians into slavery, since after all, they're infidels.

In fairness, Christianity doesn't have a clean record here. But in fairness to those of us who come from Christian backgrounds, it's not 1455, which I believe is the current year on the Moslem calender.

I think we need to give 'em time to adjust to modern times. Moslems are only 20% of the world's religious population. "Other" is the rest. Islam expanded for hundreds of years, with no real impediment until the last several hundred years. Obviously, some groupings within the religion are having a tough time coming to terms with this. That was the main reason British India split into Pakistan and India back in the 40's. Moslems didn't want to live under a Hindu majority state.

It looks like, as the British used to say of the Germans, they're either at your throat or under your boot. Harsh to say that of Moslems, but sadly, I'm coming to think that it's somewhat true, the more reading and research I do.

BTW, Johnson's book is really good. Particularly the part about electricity and how people viewed it when electricity was a new thing. Puts the book Frankenstein in a whole new light. I think I already posted something about this, but ain't shore, as we say here in Virginia....

I used to talk with a Nigerian in college, he told me some pretty awful things about how it is living with Muslims in your country and how they are only motivated by jealous rages. Instead of fixing up their own area of the country they would attack the more prosperous Christians and blame them for all the problems Islam caused them. For example, the Muslims live in the north, they can have many wives who cannot work, the men cannot support their many wives and many children so they all live in extreme poverty. The women are beat so often will escape to the south where they can find jobs and have a decent enough life. The Muslim men expect to have 4 wives at least and find themselves with even less women. The Christians with monogamy and educated women are able to enjoy far better lives and that makes the Muslims very hateful and jealous.

I dated a Egyptian Moslem, and she told me that for it to go further, I had to convert to Islam

Then you could have had a whole bunch of wives.

Actually, a fatwa was issued against Osama Bin Laden during the intramural fighting with the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan back in 1999. It seems Bin Laden had torched a bunch of Afghan homes and Masood, his rival, had gotten some Islamic Holy Men to fatwa OBL.

Surf some of the Muslim sites, and you see that they fight each other all the time, in the most cunning and cruel ways. Then they learned to get on a jet, and now you get to watch these quaint practices live in Manhattan and in Florida.