Source: Asia Times:
By Ramzy Baroud
My friend Hanna is Syrian, and happens to be Christian. The latter fact was in the past rarely of consequence, except when he wished to boast about the contributions of Arab Christians to Middle Eastern cultures.
Of course, he was right. The modern Arab identity has been formulated through a fascinating mix of religions, sects and races. Christianity, as well as Islam, is deeply rooted in many aspects of Arab life. Needless to say, the bond between Islam and Christianity is simply unbreakable.
Categories: Africa
I was nearly ten years in Iraq (recently). OK, there is a divide, but it is a ‘power-divide’ and not a ‘religious-divide’ (this is how I felt it). After all did you ever hear or read that a Sunni tries to convert a Shiah to his way of thinking with good arguments? No, the new ‘salafist’ ‘wahabi’ fighters say: ‘let me kill you first about the rest we will see later’ … According to my personal interpretation this is not a ‘religious divide’. This is a murderous one…
@Rafiq A. Tschannen; I’ve seen you write of this “power” phenomenon, indeed in responses to my posts, but what is the basis of this power struggle you write of? It is the difference in religious beliefs and intolerance towards those differences. All these internecine conflicts are based upon that. Certainly they are murderous, but it’s not large scale Sh’ia killing Sh’ia over “power”, or Sunni killing Sunni. No, it is between the differing sects. That is the basis of this murderous state that some Muslim nations find themselves in. The “murderous divide” is one of religious intolerance and barbarism.
Need of the times is the Promised Messiah & Mehdi who will bring everyone on one platform.