<<By the way, I was trying to be on your side in this argument. But I don't think defending Muslims by mauling Catholics (like myself) is a very good tactic.>>
You should re-read the post. I wasn't "mauling" the Catholics, only pointing out that that as strict monotheists and non-idolators the Muslims were closer to the Jewish religion than the Catholics were. I'm also well aware of the RCC tradition regarding icons and statues (I believe the Eastern Orthodox Christians have a different take on certain icons) but, as d'Annunzio's "Gl'Idolatri" makes clear in a rather horrifying way, it is easy enough for the uneducated to slip into idolatry through the most innocent of Church statues and symbols. Similarly with the veneration of Mary, it's easy to cross over into divine stature and of course the Church's doctrine is that Jesus was of divine origin. As someone who doesn't even know if there is a God, let alone two or three or sixty-two of them, I'm not being negative towards either polytheism or idolatry, but facts are facts and the Muslims are doctrinally closer to the Jews than to Christianity in both of those key areas.
<<Though you're right about much of what you say. And only the most ultra-conservative traditionalist Catholic is going to hide in the sand and claim that we historically treated the Jewish people with anything but horrible contempt (with a few exceptions) in the Middle Ages. It was after all Italian cities who invented the idea of marking Jews with yellow clothing or badges in Venice and Rome in the Jewish slums. Even after the Reformation it was Martin Luther who wrote about the solution to the "Jewish problem.">>
Well it's nothing I like to dwell on, but I feel compelled to point it out only when there is this hateful diatribe against Islam as a "cult of violence" or "cult of death," in supposed contrast to the wonderful and beneficent Christianity. Apropos Italy, Jewish survival rates in Italy were one of the highest in all Axis or Axis-occupied countries during WWII, which is directly attributable to the courageous attitude of millions of Italians in hiding and rescuing Jews, so whatever they did in the Middle Ages as far as I'm concerned is just water under the bridge. They're a great people and unlike all the other fascist or former fascist countries, they took care of their own fascist dictator in their own way on their own initiative.
<<So let me ask, is it people like Irving Layton from whom a lot of this viewpoint stems? (By the way I think Layton is amongst Canada's greatest poets, so I'm not chastising Canadian authors here).>>
Sorry to have to admit this, JS, but I never read anything of Layton's. Maybe I should. "This viewpoint" is probably the viewpoint of every single Jew of European origin on the face of the earth. It was my dad's, my uncles', my friends', my friends' parents' - - I don't actually know a single Jew who thinks that, historically, Christianity was anything but lethal for the Jews or that Jewish history under the Christians of Europe was anything other than a series of horrific massacres and persecutions culminating in the Holocaust. No doubt it was Layton's POV also. Mordechai Richler, another Canadian Jewish author whom I DID read (and wouldn't recommend) can speak of nothing else but. If you read enough Philip Roth, you'll find it there as well. I. B. Singer can't get away from it. It's only with Jewish people of Sephardic (North African) ancestry and tradition that you DON'T find this viewpoint - - they lived in Muslim lands and were not persecuted to anywhere near the extent that the Jews of Europe were persecuted. Persecution and massacre are just not a part of their history or tradition. Not that it never happened, just that nothing like European proportions were ever achieved.
