Samuel P Huntington's The Clash of Civilizations, the thesis of which states that global politics has entered a new phase and that conflict in this new phase will center on clashes between civilizations, has been the subject of much discussion and debate. Yet there is a general misconception when people read Huntington, especially when they read him at the surface, that he is talking about "civilization". He is not. A deeper reading quickly reveals that Huntington is in fact talking about culture - and not all "culture" per se, but one part of culture, "religion".This is principally a reply to Andrew Young's article The Clash of Civilizations and American Intervention in the Middle East (LewRockwell.com, October 14), but it is also addressed to others who continue to misinterpret Huntington, whose thesis, Young argues, relates directly to Western relations with Islamic civilization in the Middle East.