Islam

Their imperative call to action is expressed by Karen Armstrong, a prolific writer on religious issues: "If Muslims lived according to the Shariah, they could create a counter-culture that would transform the corrupt political order of their day and make it submit to God's will."

Britain has a persistent Islamic minority which sees itself as a purifying instrument in the hands of God. This minority, by the very nature of its beliefs, challenges our way of life in general, and the Christian faith in particular. How has this happened?

A rationalising temper of mind in the West has rejected the Christian belief that "God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself".

How ironic, then, that sceptics now find they have merely cleared some ground for a more zealous competition from the East - Islam.

Islam, from different motives, also denies divinely offered grace through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Supporters thereby seek to justify themselves through religious works and political activism - a volatile combination.

Britain's continuing drift into secularism and moral relativism gives Islam both its excuse and opportunity.

If we have sown the wind, must we reap the whirlwind?

Malcolm Taylor, Redcar.

FOLLOWING the death of St Patrick, Irish Christians formed links with the Coptic Church in Egypt. Not only was there an exchange of ideologies but also of texts, so much so that while much of Europe lived in the so-called Dark Ages, civilisation survived in Ireland.

The willingness of Christian monks to learn from their pagan neighbours not only helped to spread Christianity but also helped preserve Ireland's pagan mythology and faith. European monarchs sent their children to the monasteries of Ireland to be educated in literacy, numeracy and the very texts correspondent B Kidd (HAS, Dec 22) speaks of.

Centuries before Mohammed was born, St Columba and his followers established a monastery on the Island of Iona, which spread literacy, numeracy, and Christianity to Scotland, Northern England and eventually parts of Western Europe.

The West didn't see the texts preserved by Islam until the 17th Century, yet centuries before this people received a classic education at the universities of Oxford, Cambridge and Dublin to name a few.

Islam did help preserve ancient texts - so did others. Why didn't Mr Kidd mention this? Poor research perhaps?

CT Riley, Spennymoor, Co Durham.

CORRESPONDENT B Kidd accuses everyone who criticises Islam in The Northern Echo of "bigotry and prejudice" (HAS, Dec 22). He then tries to support his point by claiming that we in the West use Arabic numerals.

Had Mr Kidd done the "research"

he urges us all to do, he would have discovered that these numerals originated in India, not the Arab world. Thus these numerals are sometimes and more properly called Indian numerals or Hindu-Arabic numerals.

Mr Kidd then seems to argue that because the Islamic world achieved great things between around 600 and 1,200 AD, we are supposed to turn a blind eye to the blatantly fascist elements that exist in Islam today (threats to free speech, killing ideological opponents, etc).

To excuse the above fascist behaviour is like defending Nazism on the grounds that Mozart and Bach wrote some wonderful music, or because Germans have produced an avalanche of scientific inventions.

Ralph Musgrave, Durham.