[denydenydeny]

Indexing.

[wideawake]

Wow, this is one of the best columns by Goldberg I've ever read.

[Neenah]

omg!!

[B Knotts]

I don't always agree with Jonah, but I think he's spot on here.

[E Rocc]

The fact is that the Arabs have had their Muslim Martin Luthers and John Calvins. One was the 18th-century Mohammed Wahhab, founder of Saudi Arabia's austere version of Islam called Wahhabism. It's funny — the press often refer to Wahhabism as "puritanical" without noting that the Puritans were, well, Protestants.

Actually, a very good case can be made that Wahhabi is the Islamic version of Calvinism. Calvin himself certainly adopted his own brand of sharia when his principles ruled 16th century Geneva.

Both are versions of the faith which are rather unattractive to nonadherents, and perhaps as a result both are often willing to use force to compel obedience to their respective beliefs.

Indeed, a good definition of an Islamic fanatic would be one who favors the imposition of sharia and its application to non-Moslems. The Wahhabi certainly qualify.

One interesting point: The Islamic Conference, many of whose members undoubtedly support sharia in their homelands, met in a city where it is not in place.

-Eric

[Claud]

ping

[Claud]

What an extremely interesting column. Thanks for the post.

Jonah has been tremendous lately. Anyone know if he is Jewish, and devoutly so or not?

[Restorer]

Martin Luther was motivated by piety, not by secular liberalism. The Catholic Church was burning books and heretics pretty selectively by the time of the Reformation. The Protestants adopted the practice wholesale.

Not a very accurate statement.

Again, no offense to our Catholic friends, but these practices by Protestants were carried out for only a brief period during the middle of a revolution. Catholics (not all, but some!) burned heretics and books for centuries, before and after the Reformation.

As far as I know, only one heretic was burned by Protestants. That is Michael Servetus, who was burned by the Calvin-dominated government of Geneva. It is interesting that he was on the lam from France, where he had been sentenced to burn by ... Catholics!

The burning of Servetus created such a furor that it pretty well put an end to the practice by Protestants. Other than witches, of course.

For instance, Queen Mary of England burned hundreds of heretics. When the Protestants regained power, they didn't burn Catholics. (They did hang, and occasionally quarter, them. but that was for treason, not being Catholic. Although being Catholic was often viewed as almost treason.)

[LenS]

What Islam needs is an exorcist.

Or maybe a Slayer. *g*

[mikeIII]

Islam desparately needs reformation before a "Pope" can head it up. The strains (no pun intended!) of Sunni and Shia are comparable to the Catholic and Protestant denominations of Christianity, which makes reformation that much more difficult now.