Act wisely

It WAS good to see a range of thoughtful comments in the Letters page (11 August) about the various appalling crises in the Middle East – a welcome change from the regular Israel bashing in some sections of the media, which appear to conflate the state of Israel with the notion of Jewishness, when in fact not all Jews are Zionists and not all Israelis are Jewish.

Given the vile examples of perverted tribalism currently taking place in the Middle East, it was disturbing to come across a group of Muslims in Aberdeen city centre who had set up an exhibition with a banner suggesting that Islam was the meaning of life.

One would have thought that anyone with the slightest sensitivity would have appreciated that now is not the time to be actively proselytising for a religion where a significant minority of their co-religionists are currently murdering not only other religious believers, but each other, in a civil war whose origins go back to 650 Common Era.

I would have thought that in the present appalling situation that members of any religious faith should follow the example of the writers to The Scotsman and think carefully before they speak out.

(DR) MARY BROWN

Dalvenie Road

Banchory