Oh . . . The Pope Isn't Catholic After All!

I recently came across this interesting blog from Egypt: Sandmonkey. He appears to be a secular Muslim (an oxymoron?), but here's how he describes himself:

"Be forewarned: The writer of this blog is an extremely cynical, snarky, pro-US, secular, libertarian, disgruntled sandmonkey. If this is your cup of tea, please enjoy your stay here. If not, please sod off"

I've added him to my sidebar. Check out his April 23 post on Pope John Paul II:

"Did you hear that the Pope converted to Islam before he died? No, you didn't? But that's all over Egypt. It's the latest rumor of the week. People who support it point to the fact that the Pope had dirt put on his corps[e] ( an Islamic burial tradition) and that he wanted his memoirs burned to hide his secret conversion of course ( why else would he have them burned they would argue), which he showed in his establishing of good relations with the Muslim community and opposition to the Iraq war. The Pope, they would say without a shred of doubt in their voice, died a muslim."

About which, Sandmonkey dryly observes:

"And some people actually believed that!"

For more of Sandmonkey, see his Airport Incident, a post-9/11 story that describes the contradictory way in which U.S. airport security was handled in the weeks following the attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

I don't ordinarily blog about bloggers, but this fellow interested me because he writes well, is obviously highly intelligent, works in investment banking in Egypt, appears to be a secular Muslim, and opens a door into a world that I know very little about. Click on his links, too, for other fascinating blogs.

The world is a very interesting place.