Chris : Sorry not to reply sooner but I was in the midst of preparing a lecture for the U of O. Nothing to do with Islam, it was about the pathology of homosexuality, etc. Just concluded a couple of hours ago. Went well despite some disagreements from homosexuals in attendance. I was thinking, though, as I worked on the lecture, that this would have been a better week to have given a talk about Islam. I studied parts of the speech especially. But not in the kind of depth that is possible for me, since I simply didn't have the time. But two things stood out and deserve at least some comment. Obama insisted on freedom of choice in religion. Well, OK, an excellent thing to say. But does he understand the implications ? For is he actually means what he said, then can we look forward to churches in Saudi Arabia and new synagogues in Yemen ? That is, I completely agree with the sentiment but allow me to be skeptical about the reality of this anytime soon. Why ? Simply because there has never been a majority Muslim state that allowed freedom of religion -EVER. The other issue to comment on ( several merit discussion but maybe later ) is women's rights . Again, I could not agree more with the sentiment, but as for realism, uhhhh, doesn't Obama understand the obvious ? He is asking for major revision to the Qur'an. With the dust settling I expect any number of Muslim high mucky-mucks to criticize the speech on this point, strongly, since it is so contrary to all traditional schools of Qur'an interpretation. Lastly, what did he say of substance about Israel and the Palestinians ? Substance. His remarks were a sort of gesture, good cop, bad cop in style, but utterly devoid of any kind of concrete program of action. The long and short of it, I agreed with , say, 5 points out of seven, but must ( must ) take a wait-and-see approach since, so far, it is rhetoric and nothing else. Hopefully the 5 good points will prove to be more than well intentioned sentiments, but I can only guess if Obama desires to actually do anything real. Billy
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