Can Religious Leaders Redeem the Future of the World?

as to gill sahib's question, 'can religious leaders redeem the future of the world?' the answer is an unconditional YES. ONLY they can do it.

the ulama who wrote this open letter are all respected traditionalist [as opposed to extremist] ulama and it is a noble gesture but i don't think it will make the blindest bit of difference simply because it takes two hands to clap and the vatican is not interested in serious dialogue with islam--certainly not under ratzinger the nazi pope.

also, the real popes of the west are the banking institutions and not the vatican any more. it is not the middle ages.

Re: # 7

gill sahib,

..... i am afraid that the clash of civilizations - actually it is a clash between the civilized and the uncivilized - cannot be stopped unless al-lah sends down a revision to his message ...... as long as people like dr israr, zeemax, urstruly and osama keep on iterpreting the holy text in its originnal form, this clash is inevitable .....

..... but, it is really nothing to worry about ..... the world has survived many clashes between civilizations and between civilized people and barbarians ...... rome, greece, byzantium, arab, dutch, persian, german,chinese, japanese, portugese, ottoman, mongol - you name it, and every "civilization" has clashed with another at some time or the other ..... some, like the mongols, disappeared from the scences and others like the dutch have been diminished greatly ....... only a few primitive people - like hindoos and the eskimos - have managed to stay above this fray .... but if you believe huntington, hindooism is also a real civilization and it might be part of this global clash soon ..........

Gill sahib, what do you suggest? Invite islamic fundosover for chai patta and try to discuss why Allah is crazy for thinking he owns the planet?

Maybe as a scholar and a writer, you should write an eessay ont he following:

"whereever there are muslims in significant minority..there are problems with co-existence" ---philippines to Europe.

Dash-Dot: #2
Let me clarify as follws.
Samuel Huntington published his "The Clash of Civilizations" in 1996. The attack on the twin towers of The World Trade Center occurred on Septenber 11, 2001, which played into the hands President Bush to open up the way for attack on Afghanistan. Although Iraq was invaded on the facile claim that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction, it was a step toward opening up the clash of civilizations against the Muslim world. If now Iran is invaded, it would further expand into a wider conflict of civilizations. Although Huntington's concept is flawed as pointed out by many critics, the neocons have taken it literally and run with it.
I concluded my article by writing "The clash of civilizations must stop before it gets out of hand" in the above perspective.
Mohammad Gill

Dash-Dot: #2
Let me clarify as follws.
Samuel Huntington published his "The Clash of Civilizations" in 1996. The attack on the twin towers of The World Trade Center occurred on Septenber 11, 2001, which played into the hands President Bush to open up the way for attack on Afghanistan. Although Iraq was invaded on the facile claim that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction, it was a step toward opening up the clash of civilizations against the Muslim world. If now Iran is invaded, it would further expand into a wider conflict of civilizations. Although Huntington's concept is flawed as pointed out by many critics, the neocons have taken it literally and run with it.
I concluded my article by writing "The clash of civilizations must stop before it gets out of hand" in the above perspective.
Mohammad Gill

You can't talk to religious nutcases. How do you talk to peole who fly planes into buildings, blow up pizza parlors. movie threaterrs,. buses and trains all in the name of religious warfare or perceived injuctices..screw that..no talking. Take it to them and stick it up their ass.

Sometime back a few Orthodox Jew high priests from Israel had a dialog with their Indian (Hindu!) counterparts. And they concluded that both Hinduism and Judaism teach us the same thing. I mean give me a frikking break!!

These pompous assholes think that the old man in Rome controls Christiandome. Isn't it a little too presumptuous of them to assume the responsibility of Muslim masses?

gill sahib is it that "The clash of civilizations must stop before it gets out of hand" or a clash of ideas?.

Religious priests - christian and muslim - can serve humanity best by getting a real job.