Jay, you are half right in discussing the reception (I’m not sure why you characterized it as a “celebration”) to be given by 25 significant religious groups for Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.  He is, of course, a revolting figure in so many ways.  He is the puppet of the most extreme clerics in Iran.  His comments about the Holocaust, about gay people (who don’t exist in Iran, he noted to an audience at Columbia University earlier this year), the death penalty for heretical religious views, and so many other topics should shock the conscience of any thinking persons.  It was a mistake to offer him the opportunity to give an address on any topic, including “religious contributions to peace”, a subject about which he has a monumental level of ignorance.