Gerard-- Thank you for posting a link to this essay. I'm not sure I can agree with everything the author says-- I'm a historian as well as a practicing Christian and have read enough of the Koran to be genuinely concerned about the ways in which it's been interpreted-- but I too needed a spiritual nudge. The identification of Pharaoh is certainly food for thought. I find myself praying that God will give us all the wisdom and courage we so badly need these days before it is too late.

Thanks for the link! But thanks especially for the great comments. That means a lot coming from a fine writer like you.

(I know my writing is a bit rambling and sometimes preachy -- I always assumed it would be easy, what a shock to discover how hard it is to get something to come out right!)

I really do think the poor Muslims generally are being played for fools by the Left (and their own leaders), to their detriment and ours. And it's up to conservatives, as the only grown ups in the room, to see things more clearly. President Bush understood straight away, of course, being a smart and insightful man.

As regards Muslims here in the West, there's a moral principle involved as well. Whether any of us supported the policy of inviting particular groups to enter, they were invited by our nations' representatives and they came in good faith, so it's both inaccurate and immoral to treat them as invaders.

Which is not meant to sound preachy. I say this as someone who was painfully consumed by anti-Muslim hatred for a long time after Sept 11. It was the long suffering and noble Iraqis who changed my mind. The terrorists blow them up, even their children, and they just turn the other cheek and continue working for peaceful future. As a Christian I'm humbled and moved by it.