Every Fundamentalist Movement I've Studied In Judaism,

From The Rabbis Of The Early Talmudic Age I Learned That There Is Never A Last Word On God. There's, You Always Continue To Question. Even God Himself Could Be Questioned And You Can Keep Arguing With One Another And There Will Be No End To This Conversation About The Divine Because No Human Expression Of God Can Be Ultimate.

I Left The Convent And That Was Because I Wasn't A Very Good Nun. I Could See That I Wasn't Going To Make It. It's Very Difficult To Be A Nun, Or To Live A Religious Life. It's Very Difficult To Live A Life Of Total Celibacy Or A Life Without Any Possessions Or Material Responsibilities At All, Or In Total Obedience To Somebody Else, And Remain A Mature Whole Human Being, And I Knew That I Wasn't Going To Be One Of Those.

From The Muslims I Learned From The Extraordinary Pluralism Of The Koran, The Fact That The Koran Endorses Every Single One Of The Major World Faiths, But I Was Particularly Enthralled By The Sufi Tradition, The Mystical Tradition Of Islam, Which Is So Open To Other Religious Faiths.

Yes, All Fundamentalists Feel That In A Secular Society, God Has Been Relegated To The Margin, To The Periphery And They Are All In Different Ways Seeking To Drag Him Out Of That Peripheral Position, Back To Center Stage.

Islam Is A Religion Of Success. Unlike Christianity, Which Has As Its Main Image, In The West At Least, A Man Dying In A Devastating, Disgraceful, Helpless Death. The Cross, Crucified, And That Turned Into Victory. Mohammad Was Not An Apparent Failure. He Was A Dazzling Success, Politically As Well As Spiritually, And Islam Went From Strength To Strength To Strength.