Alliances

1137alpha.

"...the army of Normans, Saracens, and Greeks from Sicily prevailed over the coalition." (pp. 325-326)

What an impressive alliance!

Normans: Western Christians;

Saracens: Muslims;

Greeks: Eastern Christians -

- although, of course, they had to be in conflict someone else, "the coalition."

Alliances change through history. Nowadays, religious believers and secularists make alliances. I spent formative years in both England and Ireland where loyalties were sharply divided. I heard about Crusades at school and have recently stood in a crowd in Dalton Square, Lancaster, where a majority of those present spontaneously shouted, "Allah Akbar!" A Muslim acquaintance got me to accompany him when he joined others in kneeling for prayer in a London street although I whispered, "I meditate!"

We must advance towards an alliance of all.