[Jeff Lebowski]

Interesting article, Mike. Thanks for the link.

I agree with much of what he says, and he makes some good points. But I must agree with SU in that he is over the top (I found it ironic that SU was the most critical of Hitchens the atheist). IMO, the main flaw in his analysis is that it focuses almost excusively on religous/cultural arguments with little discussion of politics or recent mideast history. That doesn't mean that the religion angle is not valid (it most certainly is); it just means that he only telling half of the story, and exaggerating that half to boot. For example, how can a discussion of this type not say ANYTHING about the Arab-Israeli conflict?

There is quite a bit more I want to add, but I think I will save it for another thread.