Thanks for the very well-thought-out post keithhenry. I agree very much so... let's respect each other and try to get along.

Hi as you know I'm a member now of the Christian Team and have welcomed the opportunity to express my faith in the forum and long may it continue.

As you may know I kicked off MyOnlineTeam in the early days as a non-denomination team as I was amazed, saddened by all the sabre rattling that was occuring between the teams when this is the World Community Grid. All of us from whatever background working together for good, that for me is the joy of this project.

I tried to keep my beliefs under my hat but what you are shines out and there's no hiding it.

Birds of a feather like to flock together and I have now found my true place on the Grid in the Christian Team with my view of the world among friends that understand my day to day and share that same experience

I'd just like to say I wish claychipsmith well and growth in his team as more great people join in this number crunching challenge we face together.


Together is a great word



I'm sure there must a research project to be written in how given free will we separated ourselves along Country lines, Sexuality, Faiths and Politics so very very quickly .

Dave - backing "Team WCG"

Wow ! One speaks up and the rest of the flock fall in behind. Dont you think we should have a trial first before the hanging ?

How many of you lot have Muslim friends who come to your house and share food etc like me ?

Thank you for starting this thread.

I too have been dismayed to watch the behaviour of members posting to the Team Islam thread.

Personally I have many issues and disagreements with all the major religions on human rights matters - you know - gay rights, the role of women, birth control, Aids prevention etc. But just going all out to cause offence does not help anyone's cause.

To the poster of the "Butt-Out Tool" link - had you posted this in the chatroom as a funny/bizarre item, I would have been amused. Pity you wasted it by using it to stick your tongue out at someones sincerely held faith.

I applaud Claychipsmiths restraint and tolerance in not rising to the taunts he has faced. The poor guy has not broken any rules, but has still had to renew his team thread. His new team thread is being abused again already.

Claychipsmith - or Jaz, I think - may I call you Jaz? It is much easier to type. My name is Rob - how do you do? You say there are not many Muslims here at WCG. But do not be disheartened. Looking at the geographical spread of participants across the primary "Muslim World", I would say there are quite a lot of Muslims. And of course there are probably lots in Europe and the US (like yourself I think), who are quietly crunching along with us as part of their desire to help others as an act of charity. They do not all have to join your team of course, and I am sure the the 1200,000,000 Muslims you mention have a rainbow of differing views on their religion, and not a single mind. But keep trying and good luck. I think that perhaps our Muslim membership is choosing to keep quiet, and given the responses we have seen in this forum and society at large - who can blame them.

Someone else tried to goad a response with "Muhammad married a nine year old and had sex with her", and how can this be justified? I am sure thet most moderate Muslims would not even try. Jaz had not made any pronouncements on this subject! I note that you did not also berate the Christian Team thread with "Mary could not have been a virgin"! Aisha, I believe, was indeed SIX when he became betrothed to her. He married her when she was nine and had had her first menstrual cycle. Arranged/enforced marriages were a fundamental social construct in the Prophet's time and puberty taken to be the point of maturity and readiness for marriage. This reasoning was a cultural one and not unique to Islam. Muhammad merely followed the social norms of his time, doing exactly what was expected of him. This does not make it right of course. All early societies had very simple rules in such matters - which is better than no rules at all. In Judaism the age was only 12. The age of consent in the west has gone up only comparitively recently. We have more refined and protective rules these days and so do most modern Muslims. But in Muhammad's time women had no means of independant existance and families would seek to marry off a daughter, while obviously still chaste, to a worthy man of means in order to secure her future. This marriage was also apparently a political move. At the same time Muhammad took on a future responsibility to a wife. It is said that they genuinely loved each other. Men may have had what we may regard today as disproportionate power over women, but with it came heavy responsibilities. The Qur'an makes it clear that men were totally responsible to provide for their wives, even after divorce. There is a similar issue with polygamy. At the time Sura 4 was written, Muhammad's tribe was battling other tribes for survival, and many men were killed, leaving wives and dependants who would otherwise be destitute. As a result, Muhammad gives men the right/responsibility to take on extra wives if he feels he can support them equally. But the passage does not really sanction or enthuse about polygamy in general, and most modern Muslims surely favour one wife at a time. Times change, and everything needs to be interpreted in a modern context. Jaz seems to be trying to do this.

Arranged marriages and polygamy were not exclusive to Islam - various Christian factions have favoured both in the past (and for polygamy some present). What about this - right here in England! I take this from Simon Andrea's excellent book "The Anatomy of Desire" -

" ...The parish records of the city of Chester in the sixteenth century testify to a marriage between John Somerford, aged three, and Jane Brereton, a blushing bride of two. Half way through the service the groom began to grizzle and refused to continue with his vows. After several unsuccessful attempts at persuasion, the priest murmered, 'You must speak a little more and then go play you'. Five minutes later, little John Somerford was the happiest hisband in Chester."

Well, as a non Muslim, I had a go! Hope no one is offended. All ancient scriptures and cultural practices need to be interpreted in a modern context. It is as easy to find difficult/contentious passages in the New Testament as in the Qur'an. But let us try to see the good rather than the bad. Things are rarely black and white. As I said at the start, I have many disagreements with all the major religions. But we must be prepared to listen, and hope they do too. Discussion is everything.

As someone else said "Why can't we all just get along"