This is an utter lie from start to finish – the death toll in southern Sudan since the early 1990s has far outstripped the Rwandan genocide and the Bosnian “genocide” put together; here’s a hint – it was instigated at the hands of an Islamist government. I could add scores of thousands killed by murderous fanatics across the entire Sahel, Nigeria, Indonesia, etc, but I think you get the point.

And why on earth should that be the case, other than that a vocal group of rancourous barbarians are unreconciled with the scientific method and are willing to spill blood in their efforts to destroy the entire edifice of humanity’s progress? There has been no shortage of “non-vague” “characterisations” of another particular “faith” held by, say, 1.5 to 2 billion homo sapiens, so precisely why bother treading lightly now? The simple fact is this – if you are a genuine “secularist” (meaning somebody who, whatever their private rituals, is an ardent opponent of coercing people on the basis of faith or superstition), then you can have no principled reason to withold your fire simply because the delicate sensibilities of your targets might be upset, and they be driven to murderous violence.

Allow me to be epistemologically blunt – Muslims, as with all other religions, uphold a belief system that is unfalsifiable; that is, it is neither proven, nor even able to subject itself to empirical proof. Of course, they oppose rational enquiry for others’ benefit, but necessarily demand it for themselves. To then insist that your “faith” which, as far as you can prove, may well be a load of emotional gibberish, should be firewalled from the warranted intellectual attacks of people who DON’T believe public life should be held to ransom by mythical beings, is just unbelievable hypocrisy – and utterly immoral. Muslims are currently by far the worst offenders in this regard, and like Christians did three or so centuries ago, they need to learn to GROW UP.

What is more interesting then, is why wise words from a 30-something man seem to count for so little, judging from commenters’ (here and elsewhere) lack of interest in them. Now *that’s* an insult.

All the extant Greek texts are catalogued and concordanced. There is no evidence of leading Hebrew ideas getting any currency in Greek texts.

Certainly, as a maritime, and occasionally expansionary culture, the Greeks came into contact with neighbouring cultures.

Fighting with neighbours, living with neighbours, even reading their books is one thing. Incorporating and adapting their beliefs and ideas is quite different.

Not even in Greek popular culture is there much of an imprint of Hebrew culture. Much less is there any evidence of it in “high” Greek culture which embodied the quest for hellenic “reason”.

Take a current example: Even Cardinal Pell, it seems, reads the Koran, with the intention of rejecting it.

I know all about Rwanda, by the way, as I had family helping to pick up the pieces in situ. You don’t know what you’re talking about.