Madam, - The alleged plot to blow up aeroplanes bound for the US from Britain is a stark reminder of the dangers of the world now live in - dangers heightened, I believe, by the inability of the international community to broker a just and sustainable solution to the crisis in the Holy Land. The lack of practical support for the rights of Palestinians to form a viable state and of Israelis to live in peace and security with their neighbours is an injustice that must be righted before there can be any talk of a more peaceful world.
However, I do not believe that the "Palestine Question" is as the root of the wave of radicalism that is sweeping Islam and that seems to be winning the battle for the hearts and minds of young Muslims.
It is all too easy to suggest that radical Islam has its roots in injustices perpetrated against Muslims by the West. To be sure, disastrous foreign policy decisions - not least the decision to invade Iraq based on a lie - have exacerbated anger and worked to the advantage of extremists, but there are deeper questions to be asked about radical Islam.
What sort of ideology leads people to believe that it is the will of the Almighty to blow up thousands of innocent people in the name of some "greater good"? What sort of theology promises young men a reward in paradise for blowing themselves to pieces on a packed bus bringing children to school? Is it not true that a cult of martyrdom within certain elements of Islam has led to a complete disregard for human life - one's own and the lives of others? What sort of religious faith teaches its members that the only just legal system is Sharia law, even for non-Muslims?
There are deep conversations that need to take place - within Islam, with the other great world religions and with people who do not share the transcendent religious outlook on life. If there is to be a true pluralism, we in the West need to articulate our values in a way that thinking Muslims will see increases rather than diminishes freedom. In turn, if Muslims wish to come to the West and share the benefits of our way of life, they must also share in the burdens of democracy, a system which means that one's religious beliefs about the way society ought to be ordered cannot always reign supreme.
Democracy is about the common good and the days of a Western Europe composed of confessional states is long gone. Everyone has the right to propose their solution for society's ills, be they religious or otherwise, but no one has the right to impose a belief system.
Talk from some Muslim clerics about the "Islamisation" of Europe and a global caliphate based exclusively on Sharia law must be rejected by all who value human dignity and freedom. - Yours, etc,
MICHAEL KELLY, Dublin 8.