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The eminent [[sociology|sociologist]] [[Peter L. Berger]] wrote about the bloody borders of many Islamic nations:

The eminent [[sociology|sociologist]] [[Peter L. Berger]] wrote about the bloody borders of many Islamic nations:

{{Cquote|In the book which has by now become an important point of reference, [[The Clash of Civilizations]] (1996), the late Harvard political scientist [[Samuel Huntington]] developed the thesis that after the demise of the Cold War conflicts would be between civilizations rather than ideologies. The thesis has been hotly discussed ever since, mostly unfavorably. I continue to have great respect for Huntington’s contributions to our understanding of the contemporary world, and indeed I co-chaired with him a project on globalization and culture. But his thesis on civilizational conflicts never persuaded me. If the thesis has plausibility at all, it is with reference to the Muslim world. In an article in Foreign Affairs (1993), in which Huntington adumbrated the thesis of the book, he wrote the much quoted sentence “Islam has bloody borders.”  While this sentence too does not describe Islam at all times and in all places, it does fit many situations in which Islam confronts other religious communities.

{{Cquote|In the book which has by now become an important point of reference, [[The Clash of Civilizations]] (1996), the late Harvard political scientist [[Samuel P. Huntington|Samuel Huntington]] developed the thesis that after the demise of the Cold War conflicts would be between civilizations rather than ideologies. The thesis has been hotly discussed ever since, mostly unfavorably. I continue to have great respect for Huntington’s contributions to our understanding of the contemporary world, and indeed I co-chaired with him a project on globalization and culture. But his thesis on civilizational conflicts never persuaded me. If the thesis has plausibility at all, it is with reference to the Muslim world. In an article in Foreign Affairs (1993), in which Huntington adumbrated the thesis of the book, he wrote the much quoted sentence “Islam has bloody borders.”  While this sentence too does not describe Islam at all times and in all places, it does fit many situations in which Islam confronts other religious communities.

The sentence could serve as a succinct summary of a recent book by Eliza Griswold, The Tenth Parallel: Dispatches from the Fault Line Between Christianity and Islam (2010). Griswold, an inveterate journalist and a lively writer, traveled through some of the very bloody borders between the two faiths in Africa and Asia. On reading her book, I had to admire her courage. I also had to think of another book, this one by P.J. O’Rourke some years ago, entitled Holidays in Hell. (I can only hope that, in between her forays into some of the planet’s choicest hellholes, Griswold finds time for holidays in more pleasant places.)<ref>[https://www.the-american-interest.com/2010/11/10/bloody-borders/ Bloody Borders] by [[Peter L. Berger]]</ref>}}

The sentence could serve as a succinct summary of a recent book by Eliza Griswold, The Tenth Parallel: Dispatches from the Fault Line Between Christianity and Islam (2010). Griswold, an inveterate journalist and a lively writer, traveled through some of the very bloody borders between the two faiths in Africa and Asia. On reading her book, I had to admire her courage. I also had to think of another book, this one by P.J. O’Rourke some years ago, entitled Holidays in Hell. (I can only hope that, in between her forays into some of the planet’s choicest hellholes, Griswold finds time for holidays in more pleasant places.)<ref>[https://www.the-american-interest.com/2010/11/10/bloody-borders/ Bloody Borders] by [[Peter L. Berger]]</ref>}}