I had a Muslim girl come to take my blood twice this week and learned something. Our cat likes to make friends with everybody, but when she came near this girl she almost jumped to get away from the cat. I said "you really don't like cats do you". But what I didn't know then but have since learned is that cats & dogs, maybe other animals, are anathema to Muslims. Apparently they are equated with "the devil". I have nothing against Muslims or their religion on a personal basis, but politically I do. In western democracies we shrugged off the straitjacket of religion some hundreds of years ago, varying between countries. We banished them from having an overreaching influence on civic affairs and our freedom of thought. But Muslim society everywhere still lives, imo, under the shackles of religion. It colours and distorts their whole world view, to the detriment of everyone else who shares this planet. It is very difficult imo to have harmonious relations when some minds are free and others have a brick wall inside their head.
