The Train They Called New Orleans

I just finished Ibn Warraq's Why I Am Not a Muslim. The title says it all: Warraq invokes the spirit of Bertrand Russell, whose Why I Am Not a Christian became a sensation. I started but never finished reading the latter while I was at a protestant-subsidized university where the entry philosophy course emphasized all things metaphysical, but had no time in the semester for existentialism.  I figured the Russell would be a tonic, a draft of spring water from that oasis that is any good book store or public library.

I wonder if, truly, there is any difference between one rigidly dogmatic monotheism and another. Both Muslims and Christians use scriptural presentism to bring natural insecurities and desert warlord law to bear on women and homosexuals. Is there really any difference between the Rev. John Hagee (right wing televangelist who blamed Katrina on gays) on the one hand, and any Taliban tribal leader on the other? Not really. Worse, Judeo-Christians and Muslims are on a collision course that is fueled by Booblical prophecy on the one hand and the ravings of a mad Arab on the other. One side believes we must hurry up the Rapture; the other, in agreement, long for the 72 Virgins of Paradise. Both see world annihilation as desirable.

Let me off that train!