The horrendous massacre of Hindus and Muslims that occurred upon independence and partition being declared brings into serious question, in my view, whether religious groups are capable of ever practicing tolerance toward the ‘other’. Despite Nehru and Gandhi’s sincere attempts to involve Muslims in the campaign of nation-building and British expulsion, and despite the Muslim leader Jinnah’s early and apparent sincere devotion to their ideals, the sympathetic biography ‘Jinnah of Pakistan’ (Stanley Wolpert, Oxford U. Press, 1984) makes it quite clear that even such an extraordinary person such as Jinnah was unable to withstand the pressure of his supporters to engage in denunciations of Gandhi and Nehru as wanting to establish a Hindu state which would effectively marginalize Muslims.

As I consider that in many respects there is a great deal of evidence to support the proposition that organized religion is the scourge of humanity and humanism, none of this really suprises me. I suspect that the Christians who read your blog are in a distinct minority when it comes to real tolerance for the ‘other’.

I enjoy your blog — it is food for thought, and provokes a little venting on the part of at least some of the readers.

Isn’t it strange how a non-Christian seems to encapsulate everything Christianity should be?