Getting along

Cooperative Research.org

Slow news day, which usually means some of us will meander around searching for true meaning and purpose on Earth, even to the point of tackling the Islam versus Christianity debate.

Both religions have taken hits in the media and within popular culture but relativism seems to be gaining in popularity as more and more days pass without an attack. Such tranquility more easily allows people to gaze back on the past sins of Christianity and compare them favorably with the current sins of Islam, even though there's no real comparison.

Few stories exemplify the divide better than this one, from ex-Muslim and now atheist Aymaan Hirsi Ali, who believes the west is at war with ALL of Islam. Some are even starting to call her crazy. But, while it's debatable to me whether true atheists are indeed sane due to their belief in random nothingness, based on her writings and speeches she seems pretty lucid.

There's also this story, highlighted by local blogger Mick Wright, about an apparent olive branch foisted by Muslim scholars towards Christians. Sincere or not? My take is located in comments over at Mick's place but suffice to say, it runs a tad skeptical.

But topping it all off was a Drudge exclusive that previewed Sunday's 60 Minutes expose of the Supermax prison in Colorado, where rumor has it that 1993 World Trade Center bomber and super terrorist Ramzi Yousef has converted to Christianity. Speculation is high--even the warden doesn't seem to believe it--but strange nonetheless since it would seemingly give the jihadist movement a black eye. Keep hope alive, since if he can be saved anyone can. Lucky for him he probably won't be honor-killed by Reid or Moussaoui since the former superterrorist apparently doesn't venture much out of his cell these days.

But let's not get too slap-happy on this revelation yet. Recall that he infamously predicted his ilk would one day return and topple the Towers (an anecdote which appeared in the Clinton-criticized "Path to 9/11" movie) and he also proudly proclaimed himself to be a terrorist acting against the US at the end of his Bojinka trial. Funny, the judge in his trial expressed exasperation over the fact they didn't even know exactly who Yousef was.

As for his fundamentalist Muslim qualities, well, they appeared to be lacking at times, even prompting the FBI agent in charge to say,

he hid behind a cloak of Islam.

Perhaps he's just changed cloaks. Zacarious Moussaoui, speaking for himself during his trial, opined that it's OK to lie for jihad. Indeed, the evidence seems to back up that claim. It might be prudent to take with a grain some of these statements and stories that occasionally emerge from the Religion of Peace. After all, few seem in a hurry to condemn verses like Qu'ran verse 9 chapter 111 as it relates to blowing up children and old ladies, for example.