Introduction and Review of Previous 2 Editorials on Islamic Beliefs (07/01/06) --- I have just been reading (again, for the 10th or 15th time) an article from USATODAY.com, dated 09/30/2001- Updated 03:30 PM ET. And REMEMBER- this was only 19 days after 9/11!

If it were not such a serious matter, their "Questions and Answers" about Islamic Beliefs are so deceptive, dangerous, and ignorant as to be laughable, to the point of hysteria.

They "asked and answered" various questions, carefully chosen, and their "answers" were what one would expect from a liberal publication.

Everywhere possible they worded their answers in such a way as to deceitfully claim that Islamic and Christian beliefs are very closely related or similar.

To state that Christianity and Islam are similar is a barefaced and deliberate lie. To really believe such idiocy one would have to be deaf, dumb, blind, stupid, and ignorant of all history since Christ, or in other words, completely illiterate.

Now For Editorial 3 On Islamic Beliefs

In reply to their question, "Who are the Muslims?" they answered correctly that they come from all over the world and that the country with the largest Muslim population is Indonesia.

But I believe they "stretched it a mile" when it came to their estimated numbers in the American Muslim community, giving the figure of 7 million. They correctly stated that Islam is a growing religion worldwide.

In their answers and discussion of the question, "What is the role of women in Islam?" the USAToday article leaves out all of the negative indications from the Qu'ran about women, and their status or position, and rights. Following are a few of the "female inferiority" verses from the Qu'ran:

Qu'ran 4:34 plainly teaches that men are superior to women.

Qu'ran 2:223 likens a woman to a field to be cultivated at will by the man.

Qu'ran 2:282 values a woman's testimony as worth only half that of a man.

Qu'ran 4:3 allows men to marry up to 4 wives, and have sex with slave girls also.

Qu'ran 4:11 orders that a son's inheritance is to be equal to that of 2 daughters.

Qu'ran 4:34 the "holy book" of muslims tells husbands to beat their disobedient wives.

In addition to the clear "abuse of women" pattern shown by our quotes above from the Qu'ran, it is also an historical fact that Mohammed "married" his favorite wife when she was only 6 years old, and "consummated" the marriage when she was only 9 years of age.

We could go on much further along these lines, but this should be enough to awaken anyone who is really interested in the truth about the position of women in Islam.

In the USAToday article we are discussing, they asked and answered (incorrectly, of course) the question, "What is Jihad?"

Their answer was that "Jihad" does NOT mean "holy war," but rather that it means to "strive, struggle and exert effort." Then they proceeded with a typical Liberal "whitewash" of the meaning of Jihad.

I checked it in both of the Dictionaries I have in my own office, one a "Webster's New Collegiate" and the other one, "The Oxford Concise Dictionary of Current English." Both gave nearly the same definitions: essentially, they both said that "Jihad is a religious war against infidels; or also, a crusade for a principle."

The USATODAY article (published 19 days after 9/11) brought up the old, overworked claim that Jews and Christians were "considered people of the book" and their religions were respected and protected. This again has never been true in practice anywhere under Muslim control, and is certainly NOT true anywhere today under Islamic rule.

The ridiculous claims made in the article that Islam: "tolerates" other beliefs (whatever that means); does not support terrorism under any circumstances; and that it is a function of Islamic law to protect the privileged status of minorities are so patently false that they are not worthy of further discussion.