Homestead mailing list

["Lynda" <lurine AT softcom.net>]

Well, I would have to disagree as to my question being American.  It came 
from long discussions with friends who are Palestinian and Russian, having 
traveled to Bahrain and having had business dealings with Egyptians and 
Arabs (buying and selling Arab horses).

I think it is American to see it as religion because we have made it about 
religion, they didn't originally.  It was quite acceptable to be other than 
Muslim and for other religions to live peaceably within a Muslim country. 
Christians stopped that, not the other way round.

So, perhaps we (the Western World) have accomplished one thing, while we are 
a Republic, we try forcing our idea of Democracy down their throats, we have 
pushed to the point that maybe it is now about religion.

Lynda
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Gene GeRue" <genegerue AT ruralize.com>>

> Your question is essentially American. Our perspective of religion and how
> it influences peoples is different from that of the Middle East and East
> Asia. There is nothing simpler than religion for many of those people.
> Examples in the USA might include Quakers, Mennonites and Orthodox Jews,
> whose daily lives are directed by religion. Such people are in the 
> minority
> here. For most Muslims their religion is their life, all day, every day; 
> it
> is their basic, simple fact of life. In contrast, the majority of American
> religious life consists of going to church on most Sundays, meal and
> nighttime prayers and perhaps some bible study. The rest of the time is
> largely devoted to acquisition.