although more extreme than most american xtians, here's what religious
fanaticism breeds:

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.co...e-the-war.html

Packer reviews the memoir of Abdul Salam Zaeef, who served as
Afghanistan's ambassador to Pakistan during Taliban rule. Zaeef was
detained for three years at Gitmo and released without charge. Packer
calls his memoir, My Life with the Taliban "perhaps the best, and
maybe even the only, way for readers here to begin to grasp the world
view of this xenophobic and opaque movement."

Keep in mind that Zaeef is sometimes referred to as a moderate:

The Americans have won the hatred of all Afghans, he concludes, and
will lose the war as the Soviets lost theirs: the whole world is
turning away from the U.S. and coming to see the justice of the
Islamic cause. Like any religious revolutionary, Zaeef is certain that
history and faith will soon rhyme. His entire story is saturated in
righteousness; all the hardships he endures are redeemed by the
solidarity of the faithful, whose superiority to non-Muslims is taken
for granted. Zaeef doesn’t even pay lip service to the notion of equal
rights for all: the only outrage is what’s done to Muslims, because
they are Muslims and better than the rest of humanity. This world view
is founded on such chauvinism that Americans, with our automatic
assumptions about equality, might fail to notice it. “My Life with the
Taliban” shows that, while all wars are foolish, some wars are not a
matter of mere misunderstanding—that beneath the superficial
differences of clothing and facial hair lie more profound differences
that can’t be reconciled.

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islamists....and fundamentalists in general...harbor no illusions
about gay rights, equal rights for women, religious freedom, etc. to
them...especially in this day, to islamists, religious freedom is
anathema. scientists, especially, must be condemned because we
question their hatred