The end of the world is probably going to look a lot like Nigeria, where Muslims have been burning churches and Christians have been burning mosques and Jews and Hindus would probably have gotten in on the action if there were any around.

This latest bloodshed, which has claimed more than 200 lives so far, was touched off by one line in a column in a Lagos newspaper called ThisDay, whose motto, ironically enough, is "In Pursuit of Truth and Reason."

The column was a reality check of sorts on Nigeria's interest in hosting the Miss World Pageant that brought a gaggle of lovely teenagers to Africa's most populous nation.

"What would Mohammed think? In all honesty, he would probably have chosen a wife from one of them."

Those 18 words, out of 1,661 written, stoked the flames of hatred in a Muslim section of the nation that has seen waves of religious murder in the last year.

What really hits home for me is that the column, "The World at Their Feet..." by Isioma Daniel, reads a bit like some of my screeds against placing the stadiums in South Philly or other diatribes against resources wasted.

Daniel, in ThisDay, merely questioned whether it was a good idea to invest so much money on such frivolity when Nigeria is going to hell.

Objections by many -- Muslims are just one of many Nigerian special interests dismayed by the pageant -- were overcome. "And this is mainly because the Miss World wagon has rolled on with incredible efficiency and prosperity," Daniel wrote. "As they say money talks. Nigeria reckons that it would make over $40 million from hosting the event.

Regardless of the columnist's intentions, which I don't doubt were quite noble, the multiplier effect blew up on Isioma Daniel.

Hundreds have died. More have been injured. Religious institutions are in ruins.

ThisDay's editor has been arrested and the paper, despite several front-page apologies, has had its telephones temporarily disconnected.

On Monday, the Associated Press reported that hate crimes against Muslims are on the rise in this country.

We're not Nigerian nuts yet, but, in the darkest recesses of my mind, I fear that it won't be all that long before Muslims and then Jews become victims of the levels of homicidal hatred experienced in West Africa, Kashmir and the Middle East -- the fictional bedlam of The Turner Diaries come to life.

Also on Monday, President Bush signed into law the new Homeland Security Act, which reportedly (AP) combines nearly two dozen agencies, $40 billion in budgets and 170,000 employees. And that's on the heels of a court ruling giving the government sweeping powers when it comes to wiretapping.

The New York Times has reported that "Justice Department officials, emboldened by last week's decision, say they are moving quickly to allow prosecutors and intelligence agents to share information routinely to avoid missteps.

"'We're working very quickly, and we want to get as much help out to the field as possible,' said a senior Justice Department official who spoke on condition of anonymity."

Will reporters, editors and other perceived dissidents be hauled away into the night like the editor of ThisDay?

But as our freedoms are dismantled one by one, we may wake up one day in an America where dissension equals sedition equals jail time (or worse).

And while we are on such an upbeat note, check out Osama bin Laden's purported "Letter to the American People" published in the Observer (UK) on Sunday.

According to the Observer, "the letter first appeared on the Internet in Arabic and has since been translated and circulated by Islamists in Britain."

In addition to writing that the U.S. should convert to Islam, bin Laden, in his letter, says that U.S. civilians are legitimate targets.

"The American people are the ones who pay the taxes which fund the planes that bomb us in Afghanistan, the tanks that strike and destroy our homes in Palestine, the armies which occupy our lands in the Arabian Gulf, and the fleets which ensure the blockade of Iraq," writes the man the paper claims is bin Laden. "These tax dollars are given to Israel for it to continue to attack us and penetrate our lands. So the American people are the ones who fund the attacks against us, and they are the ones who oversee the expenditure of these monies in the way they wish, through their elected candidates."

"The American Government and press still refuses to answer the question:" bin Laden is reported as stating, "Why did they attack us in New York and Washington?

“America does not understand the language of manners and principles, so we are addressing it using the language it understands.”