It's not the Waco Messiah that much of the world finds worrying nowadays, when there's a well-known fundamentalist Christian come out of Texas equipped with so very much more in the way of armaments than an old fashioned Armalite. 

On the streets of Texas it's easier to buy guns than alcohol, and considering the number of deaths caused by the combination of the two on any Saturday night in Dallas, you may wonder why so much fuss has been made about one particular group of well armed civilians causing mayhem. Perhaps it's because they are not Houston crack dealers or wild west cowboys but a religious group that the story is seen as having international interest. It's the peculiarity of seeing such violent inclinations in those who claim to follow someone we think of as preaching Peace and Harmony. The image of Jesus armed with an Armalite or an AK47 is one that we find strange.

I must say that to have the armed fanatics considering themselves to be Christians is a change from news stories about their muslim counterparts, but it also highlights a rather sad fact. Few people would see the Waco Messiah as in any way representative of Christianity. Even a bellicose and intolerant minister somewhat closer to home, would probably be recognised as an oddity rather than a norm representing all Christians. What a pity that most non-muslims can't tell the difference between one muslim and another, and often identify the whole community by its more prominent and dangerous eccentrics.

How sad that so many non-muslims seem to view us with fear and paranoia, as though we were all taking hostages and blowing up planes; defining us all in terms of those terrorists and mad dictators who kill for publicity - or just for fun, and who so eagerly take upon themselves the mantle of the Prophet, even though Muhammad was never known to strike a blow at a woman or a child. Once such misperceptions are acquired they can so easily shape which facts we forget and which remember.

As a friend once said to me " You have to admit that you muslims are a pretty bloodthirsty lot", conveniently forgetting 2 wars in Christian Europe this century which saw body counts unimaginable in recent muslim skirmishes, with non-Christians treated as non-humans to be destroyed and disposed of by any means convenient. Part of the problem of understanding Bosnia for most Europeans is imagining that the muslims can be the good guys.

Muslims are celebrating Ramadhan at the moment, and each year at this time, for a month we go without food and drink from dawn to sunset. I wonder what your response to that might be? Does it seem to be extreme, fanatical even? Would you feel any different if I said instead that I was fasting for a month with Oxfam as action against world poverty? Would you even think better of me if the month was in aid of losing three stone on some Slim Quicker Plan?

In fact, I always seem to put on weight in Ramadhan, so it really isn't like either. For muslims, the fasting isn't extreme or fanatical. It is just their duty, so they do it, and it proves to be a month full of blessings. It's not so hard, but it is enough of a strain to occasionally make you a bit irritable, so please, if your muslim neighbour seems a bit tetchy or withdrawn right now, don't worry, he's unlikely to be thinking about guns and bombs. He's much more likely to be thinking about his dinner.