Some people seem to consider themselves morally and ethically superior when they boast that "they tell it as it is", and say exactly what they think, without a moment’s thought for the other person. Far from being superior, they are being self-indulgent and smug. The civilized person tries not to hurt other people’s feelings and …
In a book review in the Times Literary Supplement of September 14th, Emmanuel Sivan says that warfare is a major precept of Islam, but a collective, not an individual one. The community, or part of it, has to be engaged in combating non-believers; it isn’t up to self-appointed small groups. Jihad is essentially offensive and …
How have the so-called “Christian” conservatives managed to monopolize “values”, morality” and the “family”? I am a values voter. I believe in honesty, integrity, consideration towards others, and civilized discourse among those who disagree. I couldn’t care less what people do in the privacy of the bedrooms as long as it doesn’t affect my children …
A CNN poll this week has just revealed that 69% of Americans think that waterboarding is torture and 58% say the US shouldn’t use it. But a huge 40% of Americans said that the US government should be allowed to use the procedure to get information from terrorist suspects. In theory that’s 120 million people, …
“….The terrorists cannot win; they can only hope to terrorize us into forgetting who we are, so that we become the belligerent, blundering Goliath of their florid rhetoric. In this war , killing and capturing fanatics is necessary, but not sufficient; we cannot hope to kill or capture all of them. We secure our safety …
