MANKIND has always been under threat from the extremes of nature and from extreme ideology in pursuit of power.

Mother nature is creating by far the greater damage to our continued individual development and existence in our streets, villages, towns, cities, nations, alliances and international establishments.

The men behind the extreme ambitions of global domination, under the guise of religious glory and the sacrifice of innocent lives, are striving to create the perception that they can bring hell on earth upon us all and we should live in fear of their wrath.

They claim to speak for God on earth but advocate the message of evil. They demonstrate their power in the most inhuman ways they can persuade miserable young soldiers to enact for them, on a diet of anger and hate. They promise greatness on the Islamic role of honour in the service of their sisters and brothers world wide.

How pitiful! Surely, there are plenty of worthwhile causes they could live to gain satisfaction from, in the knowledge that they were helping to make the world a better place for people of all persuasions to develop their individual strengths in harmony.

The irony is that most of those they think they act for see them as sick or mad. They are in despair of them as much as anyone.

Our democracy protects the right of freedom of speech and soul searching about all things with the ability to make up our own minds to accept or reject even the most revered ideas. It does not support the freedom of our enemies from within to destroy what we have built over many generations.

It is not perfect but there is still nothing better on offer.

George Appleby,

Leighton Croft,

Clifton, York.

Updated: 11:31 Monday, September 05, 2005