<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1515" name=GENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Ah! Yes! All the good in the world is the fault of
Christians and all the good is Muslims.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>If we do discover a complete theory..of everything...we shall all,
philosophers, scientists and just ordinary people, <BR>be able to take part in
the discussion of why it is that we and the universe exist if we find the answer
to that, <BR>it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason...for then we
would know the mind of God.<BR>Stephen Hawking</DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=ngier@uidaho.edu href="mailto:ngier@uidaho.edu">Nick Gier</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=vision2020@moscow.com
href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com">vision2020@moscow.com</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, October 05, 2006 11:01
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [Vision2020] Muslim vs.
Christian Sectarian Violence</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>Greetings:<BR><BR>I would like to support Mo Henrickson's claim
that many more Christians have been killed in sectarian violence that Sunnis
and Shias killing one another. Saddam Hussein, hated by Muslim
fundamentalists, probably killed more Shias than all historical Sunni
persecution put together. Perhaps our good friend Ghazi could comment on
this.<BR><BR>Prof. Ghazanfar is also the local expert on the contributions of
Islamic philosophy and science on European culture. (He just published a huge
book on the subject.) The European Dark Ages came to a close primarily because
Muslim scholars gave medieval Europe Arabic translations of Greek philosophy
and science. <BR><BR>Baghdad was the center of the intellectual world
for centuries while Europe languished in the backwaters of world culture, and
Islamic Spain was the center of interaction between Muslim, Christian, and
Jewish scholars.<BR><BR>The Catholic philosophy/theologian Thomas Aquinas
could not have done his famous Summa Theologica without Muslim help. Even
evangelical Christian philosopher believe that this is one of the greatest
works on theology ever written. Europeans did not get the original Greek texts
until Renaissance Italians went to Constantinoble and discovered
them.<BR><BR>My research has shown that Indian Sunni Muslims were especially
hospitable to the Shiite minority. You will recall that my research has
also shown that Islam spread in India and Indonesia primarily by peaceful Sufi
missionaries. <BR><BR>I give a lot of credit to Indian Hindus and
Buddhists who lived a life of religious tolerance and moderation that many
Muslims modelled. Hindu and Buddhist fundamentalisms are recent
phenomena in which South Asians have modelled colonial behavior and
attitudes. For more on this read parts of my new book project at <A
href="http://www.class.uidaho.edu/ngier/orv.htm"
eudora="autourl">www.class.uidaho.edu/ngier/orv.htm</A>.<BR><BR>Let's speak
truth, not ignorance about the world's religions.<BR><BR>Nick
Gier<BR><BR><X-SIGSEP>
<P></X-SIGSEP><FONT size=2>"Truth is the summit of being; justice is the
application of it to human affairs."<BR>--Ralph Waldo Emerson<BR><BR>"Abstract
truth has no value unless it incarnates in human beings who represent it, by
proving their readiness to die for it."<BR> --Mohandas
Gandhi<BR><BR>"Modern physics has taught us that the nature of any system
cannot be discovered by dividing it into its component parts and studying each
part by itself. . . .We must keep our attention fixed on the whole and on the
interconnection between the parts. The same is true of our intellectual life.
It is impossible to make a clear cut between science, religion, and art. The
whole is never equal simply to the sum of its various parts." --Ma</FONT><FONT
size=1>x Planck<BR><BR></FONT>Nicholas F. Gier<BR>Professor Emeritus,
Department of Philosophy, University of Idaho<BR>1037 Colt Rd., Moscow, ID
83843<BR><A href="http://users.adelphia.net/~nickgier/home.htm"
eudora="autourl">http://users.adelphia.net/~nickgier/home.htm</A><BR>208-882-9212/FAX
885-8950<BR>President, Idaho Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO<BR><A
href="http://users.adelphia.net/~nickgier/ift.htm"
eudora="autourl">http://users.adelphia.net/~nickgier/ift.htm</A><BR><BR>
<P>
<HR>
<P></P>=======================================================<BR> List
services made available by First Step Internet, <BR> serving the
communities of the Palouse since 1994.
<BR>
http://www.fsr.net
<BR>
mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com<BR>=======================================================</BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>