Reply #31: He is the head cheerleader of his religion

[MADem]

He was giving an acadamic talk at a university, not addressing an interfaith gathering at a masjid.

I actually read his entire speech, word for word, and I think this is a tempest in a teapot. What religious leader doesn't say, to an audience of like-minded people, that THEIR religion is the best? Hell, that's the guy's JOB.

I've heard ayatullahs and imams say much, much worse. And I refuse to get overly excited over an argument about invisible deities that was postulated by some Emperor who has been dead for eons.

As for "shoeless illiterates" you won't find many of those in Palestine. They may be poor, they may be challenged to get their kids to school every day due to violence, but they are a highly literate society. And as for shoeless, I doubt that too. Muslims will wear shoes outside, even if they are crappy plastic ones. The shoes only come off when you cross the threshhold into the home.