The Daily Telegraph (UK) Nicholas Shakespeare 18/06/2009

The history of religion is a history of schisms. You can make a case that every great religion is a heresy of some previous one: exactly as Christianity is a heresy of Judaism, which itself is a reworking of Ancient Babylonian myths, so Islam may be viewed as a sub-heresy of Christianity. In the sibling rivalry that exists between Jews, Christians and Muslims, we are all descendants of Abraham one way or another, like three children competing for a father’s attention. What we need to learn is how to get on with each other without resorting to violence – a massively tall order, as these books reveal.

Faith is a dangerous thing. “God, grant me unbelief,” may be the reaction of some readers to Reza Aslan’s clear-headed overview of the “cosmic war” in which we have been engaged since September 11 2001. “This crusade,” pause, “this war on terror,” pause, “is going to take a while.” With those words, George W Bush set the tone for the first global conflict of our century. Aslan, an Iranian scholar who arrived in the United States in 1979, returns us to the dictionary. “Crusade (noun): One of the medieval wars of religion waged by Christians against Muslims.”

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