Susan, I didn't find your message to be either patronizing or proselytizing. As a Jew, I know a little bit about religious intolerance, and I didn't feel a shred of that in what you've said. I know you personally haven't harmed me personally in any way, but I feel comfortable accepting your message and apology in the spirit in which it was offered. If only the worst offense any of us ever committed were to apologize unnecessarily or even "inappropriately", the world would be much better off.

I was about to mention the same thing Mbo did, about Christians being persecuted. Then it just occurred to me that it may actually be another Internet myth, since I've never seen any documentation and don't know how one could "prove" it. Then it further occurred to me that it really doesn't matter--since there's no denying that Christians and other groups are persecuted--UNLESS this "fact" is used to justify further intolerance. Which, in this circumstance, doesn't seem to be the case.

Sadly, the concept of "enemy" seems to be hard-wired into our human nervous systems, and fanatics are fanatics no matter what their stripe. But I for one am glad for a place like the Mudcat, where human beings who happen to like folk music (and blues!), can occasionally share non-"musical" thoughts and ideas with the expectation, or at least the hope, that they will be treated with dignity and respect.

Aloha,
Mark