CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- Indignation at the ongoing destructive fury of Afghanistan's ruling Taliban militia has been unanimous, with protests coming from the Muslim as well as the non-Muslim world. In fact, the recent destruction of the unique Buddhist monuments in Bamiyan prompts reflection on the huge gap between blind religious fanaticism and tolerance and moderation.

First, it has to be stressed that the present fury flies in the face of the Koran: The fountainhead of the Muslim faith "does not condemn other religious traditions as false or incomplete, but shows each new prophet as confirming and continuing the insights of his predecessors," writes Karen Armstrong in her "History of God." Ismail al Faruqi, an authority on Islam and comparative religion, attributes the diversity of religions to history and reminds everyone of the principle of "al din al hanif," the primordial religion of God, the converging point of mankind before acculturation.

"Let there be no compulsion in religion" are the very words of the Koran that inspired the prophet Mohammed to incorporate tolerance in his charter to the people of Medina, a document that has been described by the great scholar of religions Huston Smith as "the first charter of freedom of conscience in human history."