Watched a program this morning on ABC where Peter Jennings moderated a discussion/Q&A session with a group of children of various ages, with adults answering some of their questions. One kid asked how to discern which God was "right" in this conflict, and which religion was "right". One Muslim gentleman answered that "Allah" was simply another name for the same God, in a different language (and gave examples of other names in other languages, such as the Spanish "Dios"); he said that Arabic Christians refer to the Christian God as "Allah". An African-American minister said that God is not a respecter of religion.

I thought those were great answers. I shudder to think what would've been said if Jerry or Pat were on that panel. I'm glad to see the network had enough sense not to put them there!

Having been raised by the sort of people who hang onto (and parrot) every word the Falwells and Robertsons of the world spout, and having been forcefed same, I know from firsthand experience that it is impossible – literally impossible – to make them understand how damaging and destructive and unChristlike such statements as those described by the Washington Post really are. These people are as fanatical as terrorists and, in their way, as dangerous.

(Given my upbringing, I'm not sure how I ended up turning my back on it, except that I was raised in the '60s when everything outside my home and my church taught me to at least TRY to keep an open mind and to be respectful and accepting of people who aren't exactly the same as I am.)