Thanks, GUEST Talal, for a post obviously too thoughtful for some in this forum. Why some respondents lurk in the shadows with an eye toward discrediting sincerity is beyond me. Have recent events so embittered us that we look suspiciously on someone trying to discuss an end to racism? Or are we enjoying our cynicism and anger a little too much? Whether you wish to recognize it or not, the original post is quite accurate about the founding principles of Islam. That it has been so poorly executed in many Muslim countries is hardly the fault of its scripture. The founding principles of American democracy, so reverantly cited by so many, are equally indetectable on the streets today. Those who have responded to this apparently sincere declaration merely demonstrate how mean-spirited we have become, and how necessary it is for idealists to reach for something better.