Sit down, and pull up a chair. Pour a cup of coffee; we have to talk.

Truth alone, sets us free. Truth is timeless, and is above culture....truth never changes.

Arminianism is like a head cold: you can catch it without knowing it, but you can't get rid of it without a fight. The average Christian finds much comfort in the tenents of Arminianism (God is manageable, sin is not the incapacitating force the Bible says it is, I can "help" God with my salvation and sanctification, etc) but little biblical support. Because Arminianism as a system tends to promote fuzzy thinking and an impervious resistance to logic or systematic theology, it is a most difficult foe to vanquish. Fortunately, Doug Wilson has delivered a death blow in shirtsleeve English. Recording the conversation of a Calvinist pastor and a recovering Arminian, Wilson gently demolishes all the errors of the Arminian system in an engaging style. All Calvinists should read this book in order to learn to present the truths of the Bible in a clear and attractive manner. All Arminians should read this book in order to learn the truth.

Douglas Wilson may be the most articulate of all the current defenders of Reformed theology writing today. Not since I read John Gerstner's all but unanswerable "Predestination Primer" (available in "Primitive Theology: The Collected Primers of John H. Gerstner") have I run across a comparable defense of the Augustinian (or Calvinist, though I truly believe that it is simply the Biblical) sytem of belief. Indeed, superb as Gerstner was, Wilson's imagined dialogue may be the more effective presentation. I cannot recommend this too highly. Ironically enough it is the ideal antidote to such slipshod exercises in sophistry as Gregory Boyd's "God of the Possible". Wilson will probably never have the rapturous following that some Christian thinkers have because A) He makes it look easy (It takes a superior intelligence to take topics this weighty and make them so clear) and B) People will reject what he is saying, not because it is false, or illogical, or unBiblical; they will reject it because they don't like what he says. The Rev. Wilson finds himself in enviable company there. All Christians should read this excellent book.

Donald Foxvog and Robert Alotta effectively collaborate in The Last Voyage of the SS Henry Bacon to dramatically present the powerful story of an American freighter in the crux of the WW II high seas. The mission of the SS Henry Bacon was to save the lives of nineteen Norwegian refugees fleeing from the Nazi Army onslaught. The freighter's mission would exact a blood price from its faithful crew. A deadly and harrowing true story filled with heroic sacrifice and sad tribute, The Last Voyage of the SS Henry Bacon is highly recommended reading for anyone with a strong interest in naval history and a unique contribution to personal, academic, and community library World War II studies collection.

I have read this book twice in it's entirety and some sections of it three or more times. Dr. Alotta has woven together the words of these seamen as they relived their last voyage on the Henry Bacon. Many books on historic events do not give the reader a grasp of how terrible the conditions are that the soldiers and sailors endure in their battles. In this book, you get a feel for how cold and icy the water was. You can picture in your mind what it must have been like to stand on the deck of a sinking ship in the arctic waters knowing that if you stayed on the ship you would die and if you jumped in the water you still might perish. Thank you to Dr. Alotta for writing this book and thank you to all of the brave men and women who have fought our country's battles.

Since I was the Radio Officer of this ship I could be a bit biased but I did enjoy reading it. The authors spent many years in the research and interviewing of the surviving crew and other people who were envolved. They did a good job and I believe this story would be of interest to anyone who wishes to know more about this phase of WW2. Almost all the survivors are no longer living now. So it is fortunate that we have this record for the people who will be interested in years to come. Thanks Don Foxvog and Bob Allota.

Though this little booklet may soon be overtaken by events, it's a fine reality check for where we are at the moment. As Chang makes clear, Patriot Act I renders the Fourth Amendment meaningless, at the same time it strips non-citizens of due process and constitutional guarantees. And though the text does at times read like a legal brief, the details are provided in succinct fashion that should alarm anyone concerned with safeguards against tyranny, whatever the source. Moreover, the threat promises to worsen as Ashcroft readies a sequel to PAI, further blurring the line between dissent and terrorism. Despite appearances, this is not a partisan issue. We all stand to lose unless we stand up for constitutional government and the right to dissent. Chang's represents a handy and inexpensive status report, that should be the duty of every citizen to read and act on.

If you're in the mood for a good scare, this will do you. It's amazing how fragile our liberties are, and how one little decision can place them in harm's way.

I definantly recommend this, regardless of the current climates, for a better understanding of the ways our liberties have been abused in the past, and how easily our privacy can be invaded without our even knowing.

Nancy Chang's concise summary of post 9/11 developments is an excellent primer on how dissent has been repressed and silenced in the name of anti-terrorism and how "patriotism" has been twisted into something resembling a Mccarthyite witch-hunt. She focuses on the USA PATRIOT Act, and her legal analysis of the profound unconstitutionality of some of its provisions is chilling. Her legal analysis is acute and accurate (she is the senior litigation lawyer with the Center for Constitutional Rights in NYC). Among other things, attorney-client communications are now being monitored if the client is suspected or accused of "terrorist" activities. The term "terrorism" has been so expanded and amplified by this Act as to make it applicable to many activities not normally considered to be within its ambit, as Ms. Chang details. This is a timely, up-to-the-minute introduction, and urgent reading for everyone concerned with the assault on civil rights now taking place in the guise of fighting "terrorism."

This book is also recommended reading for people interested in Islam and its effect on Arabs, namely that of freedom.

So give it a try.

I've been recommending this book for years. I keep several extras on my shelf to give away.

And, by the way...I'm a professional author, and I'm 'frugal'.

Enough said.

What a great book. The history of freedom around the world explained simply. The book explains why freedom works. This book is very entertaining.

If you agree with the views in the book, give it away to your elected officals. It is obvious they don't know or agree with it.

You can let them know about the book. Whether they agree with it is up to them.

Roberts, a Rutgers law professor, examines the sociopolitical reproductive history of black women--concluding this group did and still faces disparate treatment in public policy. The combined impact of race/ethnicity, sex and ecconomic status govern black women's relation to their own bodies--and treatment from policymakers and medical personnel.

While this premise has been previously examined by other scholars, Robert's contribution differs in legal analysis of the state/women relationship specifically as it applies to black women. She also faults fellow feminists for their ignorance, silence, and apathy towards black women's unique reproductive rights.

Begining with a critique of the predominantley white pro-choice movement for preoccupation with white middle class women and the assumption reproductive access means the same thing for all groups, Roberts holds black women's fertility is only valued if a predominantley white society can find ways to benefit from it.

She also notes that illegal abortion took the highest tolls on low-income black women who were unlikely to have the financial and political clout of rich white women to convince doctors to perform theraputic abortions in secret. At the same time, abortion should not be the sole issue of a truly progressive reproductive rights movement because coercive sterilization and contraceptive programs are also painful incidents in black women's reproductive history.

The pro-choice movement should oppose reccent 'welfare reform victories' because of the destruction such punitative measures have on black communities. Although most recipients were and continue to be white, policy debates were flooded with inferred images of the black "welfare queen" to foster and exacerbate racial and class tensions within the most conservative industrialized nation in the world.

Because anything else repeats the very conditions she is seeking to eliminate, a truly progressive reproductive policy supports the rights of all women to control their own bodies. Not enough to perform "multicultural" outreach, all feminist reproductive rights groups must fully intergrate a multi-pronged, class concious approach into their mission statement and policy objectives.

This book is an indispensible text for a social science course on reproductive rights, law, and/or social policy, but should be read by all who are concerned about securing freedom for all.

We all know about the plight of black men in society, the mainstream white society doesn't know about the plight of black women and their role in demonizing us by controlling our reproductive capacities and by destroying black families. Black women have long been stereotyped as breeders of unwanted children, matriarchs, and amoral jezebels. It's time for society to stop seeing blacks as problems and to start finding solutions to the growing poverty, lack of insurance, and family breakdown among blacks by assisting them economically, not by punishing black women's reproduction.

I want to thank Ms. Roberts for having the guts to say what was on her mind in her book.

I am fortunate to have picked up this book at a local feminist bookstore. This book taught me an abundant amount of information regarding the complex connections between reproduction, gender, and race in the United States. Starting with slavery, the author takes the reader all the way through to the present. Unfortunetly not much has changed since then. Society continues to control the reproduction of black women in order to keep the status quo of white male power structures alive and well. The most difficult chapter for me concerned the eugenics movement and forced sterilization. I knew this occurred but was not aware of how systematic it was. Who knows if doctors really stopped sterilizing black women without their consent in the 1970's as the author stated? I wouldn't be surprized if this practice continues. I had to have a couple drinks to process that chapter.

No longer can I hide behind ignorance of these events.

Living in a country like Israel, which is beset by fateful ongoing conflicts from within and without, one is torn between impulses of appeasement and revenge, diplomacy and force, empathy and despair. A particularly difficult dilemma arises when dealing with hate-and-violence rhetoric against the Other - rhetoric which, ipso facto, challenges the selfsame democratic system that allows it to exist in the first place. It is this "catch of democracy" that Raphael Cohen-Almagor examines in The Boundaries of Liberty and Tolerance: the Struggle Against Kahanism in Israel. As a layperson in the disciplines upon which he draws - philosophy, jurisprudence, political science - I approached the book with some trepidation. Much to my relief, though, I found that it to be reader-friendly yet extremely thorough in attempting to delineate the boundaries of liberty and tolerance in a democracy.

From the outset, the decision to allow a racist demagogue like Kahane to run for a seat in the Israeli legislature raised ethical issues of the most troubling kind. The decision to revoke that privilege was no less troubling: as they fought to have Kahanism outlawed, advocates of tolerance and democracy came under bitter attack for defying the very principle which they claimed to support. The book provides a reasoned, thoughtful and comprehensive explanation of the ethical questions underlying this problematic position. And as we know only too well, no country is immune from such questions; i.e. from the emergence of would-be political parties brandishing blatantly racist or xenophobic slogans, or advocating blatantly racist or xenophobic measures. The analysis set forth in the book examines the most sensitive implications of such a development, particularly the need to reconcile the sacrosanct principles of freedom of speech, on the one hand, with the obligation to stem any tangible threat to democracy, on the other. In trying to gain a better understanding of this complex paradox, I found Cohen-Almagor's lucid description of the distinction between freedom of expression, per se, and infringements of the Harm and Offense Principles particularly enlightening.

I too believe, like the author (and indeed, who doesn't?), in the solution outlined in Epilogue - education - as the ultimate means of delegitimizing and eventually eradicating racist politics. And yet, while pursuing the educational route, it also behooves us to continue grappling with the excruciating moral and legal dilemmas which these politics force upon us. I would heartily recommend Cohen-Almagor's book as a quintessential case study, capable of shedding light on one of the most problematic challenges to the democratic system.

Raphael Cohen-Almagor maps the course of the struggle against Meir Kahane in the Israeli courts and legislature. But he places it firmly in the context of the traditional controversy over the limits of toleration, providing us with a rigorous examination of the damage principle as it applies to speech and expression. He forces us to face the question why, if we refuse to tolerate the damage done by thefts, assault, fraud or murder, we should tolerate the potential damage that can be brought about by aggressive or violent speech. His work blends together political philosophy, contemporary history, and constitutional theory. It deserves the close attention of students of all three disciplines. But it should fascinate and provoke also all those who wish to confront what is probably the principal dilemma of the modern democratic practice.

As long as men and women strive to civilize their society the problem of tolerance will remain, because the urge toward intolerance will not go away. The achievement of Dr. Cohen-Almagor's work is that it adds to our knowledge and awareness of this central problem of politics. His arguments are made in the context of classical liberal thought, of practical politics, and of jurisprudence.

Jim Rayburn III has captured the spirit of a great movement that has made the world a better place to live. Jim Rayburn, the author's father and founder of Young Life lived a life committed to sharing God's love with young people. This is an important book for anyone who wishes to know the inside story of a person dedicated to serving God. It is a life high "highs" and low "lows". It is a life of pain, tragedy, disappointment, felt betrayal and a life of joy, faith, love, compassion and humor. It is a life of prayer and close commumion with the Almighty. Jim III has openly shared the inside struggles of his family as well as the inside struggles of the organization of Young Life. This book will be an encouragement to any unafraid to confront a great truth, that great accomplishments can be experienced in the middle of great pain.

This book was one of the more "impacting" pieces of literature I have picked up in a long time. It's the inspirational story of a man's desire for rich intimacy with God, and his burning love affair with The Savior. Throughout the story, miracles unfold one by one before the readers eyes. This book played a significant role in my desire to join the Young Life staff four years ago in Littleton, Colorado. I have been inspired by Jim's love for kids as I continue to invest my life in those at Columbine High School. As I reflect on this story, it makes me regretful-that I have only one life to give for Christ.

Kevin Parker Young Life Area Director South Jefferson County, CO

If the mission of Young Life played a role in your life at any level; whether as a "club kid", camper, committee member, staff, or volunteer, then Bondage to Liberty, Dance Children Dance is essential reading for you. To understand the mission, you must understand the man God chose to initiate it, Jim Rayburn Jr. His son, Jim Rayburn III, provides the means to understand that man in this book. Primary source materials including personal journals, "club talks", and first-hand observations shed light on Jim's character and internal thought processes, personal relationships, incredible prayer life, and personal spiritual highs and lows. Photographs and expanded captions add much to the painting of Jim's portrait. More than a simple biography, Bondage to Liberty honestly examines the lives of Jim and Maxine Rayburn, their human struggles, frailties, shortcomings, and the miraculous work accomplished through them. In the process, it opens a window into Jim's relationship to his Heavenly Father and his God-sized vision for reaching teens with the message of the Christian faith in terms they could relate to. More than just documenting a work with youth, Bondage to Liberty reveals the varied spectrum of Young Life's history from its conceptual beginnings in the rural Southwest, to the anointed growth and impact during its early decades, through its tumultuous social and corporate growing pains, and on to its current condition today. In the context of the story of this man and his work, we are reminded that making an impact with teenagers, or anyone in this world, has more to do with love than it does logistics, requires availability more that it does capability, and demands faith rather than fancy formulas. Just as with the mission it documents, Jesus Christ and knowing real life in Him isn't just one thing Bondage to Liberty is about, its all Bondage to Liberty is about.

I worked for McDonnell on Gemini and for Boeing on Apollo (too young for Mercury), so I naturally read every space history book I can get my hands on. This was definitely one of the best I have ever read.

I usually wind up with a list of technical and/or historical errors whenever I read space history books, but I only noticed a few typos in "Lost Spacecraft".

For someone who was not personally involved in Mercury, Mr. Newport certainly did an excellent job of describing how all the capsule systems worked.

I especially enjoyed the photos, most of which I had never seen before.

This book is worth 10 stars.

This is the amazing story of the search and recovery of Liberty Bell 7, Gus Grissom's 1961 Mercury spacecraft that sank to the bottom of the Atlantic ocean in an accidental sinking after the mission, while the capsule was still floating in the recovery area. Curt Newport is a veteran of deep sea underwater work and he gives readers here a page-turning account of the hardships of working with remote vehicles more than three miles under the surface of the ocean where pressures are 7000 pounds per square inch and more. He also covers the man Gus Grissom, who many considered the top astronaut at the time, including his childhood and later. The Mercury capsule (yes, back then they were called capsules, not spacecraft) is covered in detail, it's construction and operation. Also, the trajectory that this 1961 Mercury-Redstone sub-orbital mission travelled is discussed to some length as it's eventual underwater location is dependent on this. The technology of underwater vehicles is covered in addition, to give readers an appreciation of the difficulty inherent in this type of work. Curt Newport has included many, many, excellent photographs in this book, well done here. The writing style is clear and flowing, a joy to read. This is also one man's story of determination and resilience in the face of negative odds.

On a personal note, when I was six years old in 1961 and living in St. Louis County, just a few miles from where this Mercury spacecraft was built, I remember my father coming home from work (he worked at McDonnell Aircraft as an engineer and perhaps did a bit of work on this very spacecraft) and said "it sank to the bottom of the ocean", referring to the sinking of the Liberty Bell 7 that occurred that day. Liberty Bell 7 was recovered in the summer of 1999, restored , and during a national tour I finally got to see it at the St. Louis Science Center in the summer of 2001, in the city where it was built, closure in a sense to me. It is, or soon will be, on permanent display in Hutchinson, Kansas, at the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center, can't wait to go there!

On 21 July, 1961, after a near perfect flight, The Mercury space capsule, Liberty Bell 7 landed in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Florida. During the recovery process, the escape hatch blew prematurely. the capsule filled with water and sank, nearly taking the pilot, Gus Grissom, with it. Thus began one of the great controversies and mysteries of the United States space program The author explores the events leading to the incident and examines possible theories concerning the premature hatch release.

Newport was uniquely qualified to lead the expedition to recover Liberty Bell 7. He was a pioneer in the developement and operation of Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROV) and an experienced veteran of underwater operations all over the world. His fascination with the mystery concerning the lost space capsule led to 14 years of research into the flight, probable location, condition and possible methods of recovery.

The highlight of the book is the detailed description of the search for Liberty Bell 7, and its subsequent recovery from a depth of nearly 3 miles. The narrative reads more like pulp fiction than a factual rendering of events, with moments of elation followed by despair and ultimate victory. This is a must read for space and underwater exploration buffs alike. I only wish that the team had been given the opportunity to recover the hatch cover, surely, one of the targets in the vicinity of the capsule, and a key element in resolving the mystery and controversy concerning the premature hatch release.

New Beginning II is a great explanation of the surprisingly revolutionary concept that it is our feelings and emotions that really "create our reality". Most new thought books rightfully stress the importance of thoughts, however, the overwhelming number of thoughts we have are the by-products of our emotional responses to what we perceive. New Beginning II clearly explains how to deliberately change these emotional responses, creating feelings, that in turn will cycle back to the kinds of thoughts we have to have in order to produce the positive feelings, which in turn will reproduce the positive thoughts we need to create the reality we desire. Think of New Beginning II as sort of "Seth Material dumbed down", it's less intellectually challenging than the Seth Material, but no less effective. I also find it interesting that Jerry and Esther Hicks proudly acknowledge the significance of the Seth Material and Jane Roberts...this is a positive reflection of the Hicks' ethical integrity-unlike the legions of New Thought authors who have been ripping off Seth/Jane for years, the Hicks' are honest about their spiritual heritage.

This book contains and further elaborates on most of the information given in the first book (vol I) except the planetary alignment stuff. The information in this and volume I is extremely practical information, as opposed to very theoretical. Again like volume I this book gives you the mechanics of conscious creation and how the universe works to bring things into physical manifestation. This book gives back meaning by showing you every thought you have has an impact in your life and the life of others. This book can show you why your life is a product of your thoughts and beliefs. If I was given the choice of only one book it would be this one.

Great book! Great philosophy! Buy it and hundreds for your friends if you are ready for this advanced thought. This book served as a summary of the many Abraham-Hicks audio tapes I have listened to over the past year. I too have read hundreds of books on philosophy, metaphysics, new age, religion, self-help and this is the best in terms of practical ways to create a wonderful life for yourself. Also, great explanations on how our Universe works by a group of wise non-physical teachers. Read it and try not to get happier.

This is a fascinating book, consisting mainly of testimonials by ex-Muslims. Muslim readers will tend to reject it out of hand, but I think Western liberals ought to read it in order to realise that there is no such things as an "Islam-lite" basically compatible with their own ideology.

One thing that worries me about many of the testimonials is that so many of the writers justify their apostacy by their discovery of a new ideology, Science. They accept various scientific hypotheses uncritically, just as they once revered the text of the Koran.

Most worrying of all, one testimonial writer justifies her apostacy on the grounds of having discovered the new religion of Freudian psychology. Is this a step forward?

Ibn Warraq, who has several Fatwas issued against him by Islamist clerics has bravely sallied forth to explicate the tenuous status of former Muslims who for a variety of reasons have abandoned the faith. These apostates are under the threat of death given the clerical rulings in Islam. Some of the testifiers have been brave enough to use their real names!

Most prominent among these testimonials is the clear evidence of the lack of basic human rights as allegedly guaranteed under the UN Declaration of Human Rights circa 1948. Muslim countries have signed the UN declaration but consider the act as religiously correct dissimultude-taqqiya in Arabic.

Among the more stunning revelations among the testimonials is the genocide wreaked on the Bengalis by the Islamic Paki overlords in the early 70's of the last century. An estimated 3.5 million Bengalis were slaughtered in this religious Jihad. Some of you may be old enough to remember the plaintive Beatles tune: Bengladesh. This genocide cries out the certification before the World Court and prosecution of some of the organizers of this heinous event.

Testimonials of former Muslim women, brave enough to reveal their actual identity, clearly indicate the second class status in violation of the UN declaration of human rights.

Former converts to Islam who are included in these testimonials have given witness to the lack of basic human rights and the atavistic male domination prevalent in Muslim cricles and countries.

Overall, Ibn Warraq-his nom de guerre, has given us a powerful insight into the fundamental failings of the islamic faith to build reform from within and protect basic human rights. It is no wonder several Fatwas demanding his death have been issued. He's very religiously incorrect, but courageous.

His works deserve a wide readership in a western world ignorant of the fundamentals of the islamic faith.

"..In Islam, apostasy is a flagrant sin and guilt for which certain punishments have been specified in Shari'a (Islamic law). Apostasy means, to renounce the religion or a religious principle after accepting it. In other words, one's departure from Islam to atheism is called apostasy. A person who abandons Islam and adopts atheism is called an apostate . . . Apostasy is the escape from the pattern of creation and nature and that is why the word "voluntary" has been adopted for such an apostate..Can the penalty of escaping from the path and pattern of nature and creation be anything other than annihilation? This is the same thing that has been crystallized in the penal code of Islam. The anti-apostasy punishments of Islam are proper laws to rescue mankind from falling into the cesspool of treason, betrayal, and disloyalty and to remind the human being of his ideological commitments." - Kayhan International, March 1986 (Tehran, Iran).

"I have kept my (true) name secret for obvious reasons...it is difficult for Muslims to think of leaving Islam, which prescribes the death sentence to people who leave it . . . they (apostates) are the ones most dangerous to Islam, because they have seen the dark alleys, and they know it inside out." - 'Sheraz Malik' (an ex-Muslim "apostate"), 2001.

Shortly after Ayatollah Khomeini issued his infamous "fatwa" (decree) sentencing Salman Rushdie to death for the novel The Satanic Verses, in March 1989, London's Observer newspaper published a letter from a Pakistani Muslim. The writer, who remained anonymous, stated that "Salman Rushdie speaks for me," saying:

". . . mine is a voice that has not yet found expression in newspaper columns. It is the voice of those who are born Muslims but wish to recant in adulthood, yet are not permitted to on pain of death. Someone who does not live in an Islamic society cannot imagine the sanctions, both self-imposed and external, that militate against expressing religious disbelief. "I don't believe in God" is an impossible public utterance even among family and friends . . . So we hold our tongues, those of us who doubt."

The Khomeini decree so outraged "Ibn Warraq" (a pen name) that he wrote a book Why I Am Not A Muslim that far transcended Rushdie's lyrical The Satanic Verses as a trenchant critique of Islamic dogmas and myths. It is profoundly disturbing that the author's reasoned, scholarly arguments are viewed as so incendiary that he must continue to write under a pseudonym to preserve his physical well-being. Warraq contends that Muslims promoting modernization confront Islam itself, whose fixed, regressive orientation renders change exceedingly difficult:

"All innovations are discouraged in Islam-every problem is seen as a religious problem rather than a social or economic one . . . Islam, in particular political Islam, has totally failed to cope with the modern world and all its attendant problems-social, economic, and philosophical . . . The major obstacle in Islam to any move toward international human rights is . . . the reverence for the sources, the Koran and the Sunna (words and deeds of Muhammad recorded by Muslim chroniclers)."

Warnings about the all encompassing oppression of body and spirit intrinsic to Soviet-style Communism appeared in The God That Failed, a collection of testimonial essays by ex-Communist intellectuals, including Arthur Koestler. As revealed by Richard Crossman, who edited this essay collection (originally published in 1950), it was inspired by Koestler's comment, "You hate our Cassandra cries and resent us as allies, but when all is said, we ex-Communists are the only people on your side who know what it is all about."

In "Leaving Islam: Apostates Speak Out", Ibn Warraq notes that the testimony of these ex-Communist "Cassandras" appears eerily similar to the ex-Muslim apostates whose poignant, moving testimonies he has compiled. Warraq concludes:

"Communism has been defeated, at least for the moment; Islamism has not, thus far, and unless a reformed, tolerant, liberal kind of Islam emerges soon, perhaps the final battle will be between Islam and Western democracy. And these ex-Muslims, to echo Koestler's words, on the side of Western Democracy, are the only ones who know what it is all about, and we would do well to listen to their Cassandra cries."

Truly intrepid Muslim intellectuals, such as Ibn Warraq, Taslima Nasrin, Salman Rushdie, and Anwar Shaikh support a profound Reformation of Islam. These individuals openly acknowledge the ugly living historical legacy of jihad and dhimmitude, and the incompatibility of the Shari'a with the principles of equality embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. As Ibn Warraq keenly observed a month after the September 11, 2001 attacks:

"It is perverse for the western media to lament the lack of an Islamic reformation and willfully ignore . . . rational discussion of Islam . . . (W)hat will emerge [then] will be the very thing that political correctness and the government seek to avoid: virulent, racist populism. If there are further terrorist acts then irrational xenophobia will be the only means of expression available. We also cannot allow Muslims subjectively to decide what constitutes 'incitement to religious hatred,' since any legitimate criticism of Islam will then be shouted down as religious hatred."

Clearly, there are genuine, courageous Muslim reformers in our midst, but their voices are being ignored in favor of those of disingenuous, politically correct "revisionists." This is a very dangerous phenomenon, which will retard any true Reformation of Islam, with potentially catastrophic consequences for tens of millions of Muslims and non-Muslims alike.