re: #70 Bogart

Historically ALL religious confrontations, by their very nature, become an endless series of battles and psuedo negotiations. The only peace is found during the periods of frustration where neither side is accomplishing anything positive. I’ve seen it first hand in Ethiopia/Somalia, Sudanese Civil War: South (Christian) / North (Muslim) and various countries where the colonial powers in their ultimate wisdom drew geographical lines amidst religious or tribal areas that isolated a portion of a sect from the rest of it’s “brothers”. The current situation is merely an extension of the Crusades. Anyone that thinks it can be solved by rational thought after this many centuries is in a very dark place and doomed to stay there. The only way lasting peace could be achieved would be when one or the other turns to a nuclear solution which would most likely result in the removal of both parties from the world scene. Not a pretty picture and one might consider it to be counter productive.

DAMN, what an excellent first post. Worth repeating, most definitely.