toadfrog and Mark Cohen: Mark's personal preference in nomenclature notwithstanding, there are indeed many Jews who have converted to Christianity (or, more accurately, accepted the notion that Jesus is the Messiah anticipated by the ancient Jews/Hebrews) who most certainly do consider themselves to be Jewish. Here are a couple of websites to peek at: Why Messianic Jews? and Jews for Jesus There are many more sites that will be found if you do a google-search on "Messianic Jews".

Ebbie and Joe Offer: I, too, saw the "Politically Incorrect" program the other night that included the Christian bishop who was the most intolerant and dogmatic of the panelists. I agree that, in this case, such a Christian was intentionally "pitted" against a tolerant Muslim, but I disagree with the notion that the panelists were chosen in order to make it appear as if all Christians are intolerant and all Muslims are not. Rather, I think Maher was trying to point out to people who are ready to condemn all Muslims because of the Taliban's murderous fanaticism that some Muslims do not consider Islam to be a religion of intolerance while some Christians do show intolerance.

A week or two ago, one of the panelists on the TV show was a Muslim writer (Arabic, I think) who was not only intolerant but extremely rude as he spouted anti-American rhetoric and bragged about his understanding of the Arabic news service's version of the war in Afghanistan, then continuously interrupted another panelist when she described her many years of experience in Mideast politics in defense of her conflicting position about Arab opinions of the war. In that case, it was the Muslim who was shown up as bigoted ass when Maher "turned him loose".

Admittedly, Maher has often ridiculed Christians... but he ridicules just about everyone. He's not there to play nice (this ain't the Dick Cavett show!); he's there to spark controversy, and so he chooses his words and his panelists accordingly. But as a "moderator", he's much more effective than some people who've held that position on the "Frontline" show, where often everyone talks at once and the viewer can't understand what any one of them is saying. At least, on Maher's program, we get to hear each point of view. Actually, I admire Maher for taking on issues that more "respected" personalities wouldn't touch for fear of offending one or another Nielson family.