Hi, Michael-

It's my understanding that the animosity of Islam toward Christianity and Judaism, is a phenomenon that arose during the last 200 years - fundamentalism wasn't predominant within Islam until sometime in the 19th century. This was a time when Islamic nations were heavily affected by European imperialism - could there be a connection?

There were healthy Jewish and Christian communities in Islamic countries until just recently. And part of that, I think, is because Islam sees the nation of Israel as a threat to the stability of the Middle East.

And of course, fundamentalism has reared its angry head in both Judaism and Christianity within the last two centuries, especially within the last fifty years.

Personally, I don't see fundamentalism as the true nature of religion. Religion, to me, is philosophical and thoughtful. Fundamentalism is ideological, rigid, and anti-philosophical.

Once upon a time, Islam fostered education and learning, amazing advances in science and mathematics, inspiring poetry and literature, and remarkable art and architecture. All that has been suppressed by recent ideologues. In the recent (or ongoing) war in Mali, fundamentalists threatened the ancient treasures of their own Islamic culture, seeing it as profane - that threat now exists all over the Islamic world.

-Joe-