The Middle Ages

This is really the first time we see religion coming to play a significant role in the way history plays out in my opinion (in the western world), with the development of christian based faiths. The Islam section of reading was of particular interest to me, as I didn't know a lot about it. I learned a great deal. I thought the line about the Islam being more humane than many other religions of the time when now we think of if as sort of extremist. This time period is when areas start waring over religion instead of political power and land. Muhammad even said to convert or go to war with non-believers. This is humane? I also found it interesting that Mecca was more of a worship center for anyone that wanted to go there, until Muhammad changed that. This explains to be somewhat where Islams negative reputation has stemmed from. It has helped me to understand all the conflicts much better going on in the middle east. I enjoyed this reading very much.