McGrath,

"I wish people wouldn't use "medieval" as a catch-all insult for things don't like.

There is nothing in the least medieval about the "born again" version of Islam that is a factor in all this. It's a modern development, analogous in that way to some kind of fundamentalism in other religions. "

I understand and agree with your point, but the following may shed light on why the term is being used. The present Islamic extremists are acting much as Europeans did in the middle ages.

"The site of Clifford's Tower, the keep of York's medieval castle, still bears witness to the most horrifying event in the history of English Jewry. On the night of 16 March 1190, the feast of Shabbat ha-Gadol, the small Jewish community of York was gathered together for protection inside the tower. Rather than perish at the hands of the violent mob that awaited them outside, many of the Jews took their own lives; others died in the flames they had lit, and those who finally surrendered were massacred and murdered.

Understandably, this appalling event has become the most notorious example of antisemitism in medieval England. Yet, it was by no means an isolated incident, but rather the culmination of a tide of violent feeling which swept the country in the early part of 1190. "