Stop bugging me. I no longer trust your stats. I think your persona has overtaken the real you. Use your real name and come out of your anonymous alias shell.

I forgot to say that the other fanatical, fundamentalist religion that I am totally opposed to is the communist faith. Communism has not been called “The Failed Religion” for nothing.

The communist faith is that a “worker” can do all that a “capitalist” can do – the hospital porter can do brain surgery, the worker in the factory that builds the aeroplanes can fly them, the farm worker can run the farm, the factory worker can run the factory – no skills, experience, training or aptitude needed for any job, just loyalty to “The Party” and “The Leader”.

“The Leader” like “The Pope” is infallible. Zuma can spout any nonsense he wants – and get applauded and worshipped.

It is no coincidence that where the Roman Catholic Church and Communism have worked together- there has been the most misery in the world. Two infallible men: “The Leader” and “The Pope”.

Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Haiti, South America, the Pacific Islands – mired in poverty, over population and unemployment.

See – I am an equal opportunity critic of all fanatics, not just the Islamic ones.

Lyndall, what I think about your mutilation of Africa by unlaterally declaring bits of it not to be Africa at all is that you’re as culturist and racist as those you criticise. Perhaps indeed, our recent outbreak of xenocide is reflective of the vast majority of South Africans’ viewpoints. Too dark, too light, wrong language, wrong religion – sorry, Egypt, too light are you, and predominantly the wrong religion. You’re out. Who next? How about the Moroccans? The Tunisians? Botswana? The mighty one knows that that Ian Khama is potentially not only way too white but too anti-SADC really, right? Shame that those blokes in Botswana don’t see everything in that peculiarly simplistic simple simon south african way.

And mutilation of girls in a supposedly religious, sanctioned way is worse than mutilation of women in a criminal way? Or in a racist way? Or in a xenophobic way? Compare statistics of how many women have been raped and tortured in this wondrous full-on African country and ask the question that includes words like ‘pot’ and ‘kettle’ and ‘mote’.

Charity beginning at home and all that. Something we’re quick to criticise Mbeki for. Stop mutilating the continent and focus.

“And what do you think about the fact that over 90% of women are genetically (sic) mutilated in Egypt?”

I take it you meant “genitally”. As I wrote previously on another TL blog, FGM has NOTHING to do with Islam, and the practice was around more than a thousand years before Islam began.

In Ethiopia, where breakdown by belief was Christian 60.8%, Muslim 32.8%, traditional 4.6%, other 1.8% (in 1994 census), 74% of Ethiopian women between 15 and 49 in a health survey in 2005 had undergone “some form of genital mutilation and cutting”. Source: Unicef

In Mali, where this practice is very prevalent, 85% of Christians practiced it in 1994, according to the Swiss based Inter-Parliamentary Union.

.

“…first having a Muslim and a Christian block in Africa” is quite nonsensical.

Muslims and Christians and people who are neither live in common areas in many parts of Africa.

Would you advocate splitting Tanzania into 3 parts, as its population breakdown by religious beliefs are: Christian 30%, Muslim 35%, indigenous beliefs 35%?
Likewise should Cameroon, with indigenous beliefs 40%, Christian 40%, Muslim 20% be divided into 3?
And should the 5% Christians in Senegal and 1% Christians in Mali respectively, living in peace with the Muslim majority, be expelled?

I am equally against fundamentalist Christians ( like Bush and the Roman Catholic Church) as against fundamentalist Muslims.

However I do think that fundamentalist Muslims must be sorted out by moderate Muslim intellectuals, and ditto for Christians.

And I do think that first having a Muslim and a Christian block in Africa before trying to jumble such diversities all together would take it one step at a time.

And what do you think about the fact that over 90% of women are genetically mutilated in Egypt? How does that fit in with the Q’ran? Or how does stoning to death pregnant women who claim to have been raped in both Somalia and Nigeria fit with the Q’ran?

the generals put out a hit on abiola, who died right after abacha did.

[oh, wait. abacha allegedly died from viagra while with indian prostitutes.]

you know, you *really* need to let the “islam” thing go.

your islamophobia is just… ugh.

[and btw, if muslims are so bad, how come during the 1994 slaughters in rwanda/burundi/northeast drc, there were no massacres in the muslim parts of it, while scores of churches, monasteries, and religious schools were burned to the ground, and people running from them shot?]

re: biafra. you know, while most hausas are muslim, and most igbos are christian, yorubas are split, more or less 50-50 [in nigeria anyway; outside of nigeria, it's 70-30 christian.]

while most nigerian leaders have been yoruba, only one of them has been muslim. [babangida.] the move of the capital from lagos to abuja had far more to do with *ethnicity* than religion.

[more trivia: senegal has had three presidents since 1960: a catholic serer, followed by a muslim serer (with a drinking problem), followed by a muslim wolof; all of whom had catholic wives.]

for the most part, it’s not about religion in africa. honestly. [although in cote d'ivoire it is... and it's the christians who were starting all the shit. but of course you knew that, right?]