Being a liberal involves standing up to both the religious bullys who seek to impose their faith on others, and standing up to the non-religious bullys who seek to harass people for peacefully practicing their faith. I think most liberals do a pretty good job of telling the difference.

Here in America, Fundamentalist Christianity is the bully religion, not Islam. American Muslims are more likely to be victims of non-religious bullys than to be the bullys themselves. Liberals are right to stand up for them.

As for the bullying forms of Islam that have emerged in the middle east, I have yet to see evidence of any kind of broad left wing support for these regimes. Correct me if I'm wrong, but nobody has rallied in support of the Taliban. Opposition to the war has nothing to do with Islam and everything to do with human rights and international law. In fact, one of the major left wing criticisms of the war is that we effectively are replacing a secular regime with a theocratic one.

...would be to require people to post their name to their letter (or, failing that, at least a consistent pseudonym), and to also have a regular publication of the most thoughtful and interesting letters of the week.

Starring your favorites is good acknowledgement, and helpful for the reader, but unfortunately, the starred "editors' choice" letters are often lost amid the sea of more mediocre ones. Periodically spotlighting the best - like you used to do, before the open letters format - would address this.

No, I didn't answer your questions. I wasn't engaging you. I was mocking you. Jesus, you're stupid.

What's the matter, tough guy? Can't handle a little sarcasm?

Wow. That was eloquent. I'm glad you told us that. Please let us here more of your opinions. Really, we all want to hear what you think.

"This is a religion that does NOT allow Christians to proslytize in many Middle Eastern countries, on pain of death."

Here you are confusing Muslim states with the religion of Islam. There are certain political states that have characterized themselves as Islamic. These governments, unquestionably, are intolerant (as would Christian states be, if they existed). However, these states, though they call themselves Islamic, are not Islam. There are millions of Muslims all over the world who do not live in, or support, a Muslim political state. For these people, Islam is a personal choice.

As for the Muslims who do live in Muslim states, you and I both know that they didn't have much choice in the matter. It is where they were born. Most of them probably just want to live and let live, just like us, and probably have more in common with the personal choice Muslims mentioned above than the radicals who run their states.

In order to fit within the parameters of Liberalism, a religion must fundamentally be about personal choices, and not about a political agenda. Islam - like Christianity - wears both faces. All of us Liberals object to the idea of religion as ideology.

A debate can be had over which form of politicized religion - Islam or Christianity - is more egregious to us liberals. However, I am not sure that this is the place to have that debate. In this essay, Mrs. Dunn has presented us with a vivid portrait of the Islam of personal choice. Hers is a religion that we liberals can, and should, be respectful or at least tolerant of. I don't think that using the discussion of this essay as a forum for a broad attack on the most egregious forms of political Islam shows proper respect to the author, her essay, or her religion.

The book of Esther takes place while the Jews were living in captivity in Persia. In it, Esther hides her Jewishness for reasons of personal protection. This willful act of deception results in her being drafted into the King's harem, and ultimately placed in a position to convince the king not to allow his evil minister Hamen to go forward with his planned massacre of the Jews. Divine providence is implied.

Having read a few of the hostile and contentious responses to this piece, I just want to state for the record that I thought it was great. I always find it interesting to hear how authentic believers happened upon their path to God. This one was most enligtening, both about the reader and the religion.

I have always felt that, at its best, there is a quiet dignity and a humbleness to Islam that I admire greatly, and I see those features in both Mrs. Dunn and her tale of conversion.

Keep it up. It is always interesting and enlightening to see the subtle connections between culture, community, and economy.

I will admit that I haven't had a chance to read all 51 pages of letters on this topic. What I did see, among most of the responses that I did read, was a vague, inarticulate, angry response to a letter that appeared to me to be calculated to provoke just such a response. I am not exonerating those who took the bait, and ratcheted their rhetoric to the point of near death threats. However, I think the factor that you are discounting is the haze of anger that allows people, once provoked, to project all of their malevolence onto the provocateur - something that they would not otherwise do. Like I said, if this letter had been written about Boomers 30 years ago, you would have seen the same response.