Islam

Reading The Bookseller of Kabul.  What pits of misery Afghanistan and Pakistan are. And reading this just after reading about women and fistulas in Muslim countries makes me weep for the evil of Islam. I have had friendly relationships with Muslims and had them over for dinner. But after 9/11 and finding that Islam has a word for the duty to lie to Christians and Jews and Pagans took the heart out of me. How much were my friends lying to me? Of course, finding out that Muslims do not allow adoption (which is a central doctrine and habit of Christians) is sad too. I remember how surprised I was when a PhD from Bombay (now Mumbai) asked us why we had adopted, and then why had we adopted children of another race. He said mothers should keep and take care of their children. Well, nice ideal. Last I looked, though, this was hardly an ideal world.