The madcap fix for religious intolerance got underway with Jon Stewart’s spin on the Restoring Honor Rally by Glenn Beck. This year the Rally To Restore Sanity in Washington DC took off with a side-splitting benediction by smoker priest Father Guido Sarducci.

The surprise package in the offing was Kareem Abdul Jabbar, the former basketball great who took a stand with Comedy Central duo Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. They did a skit about the “not all Muslims are suicide bombers” angle in a fun take against fearmongering and paranoia.

The assortment of celebs put on a delightful show, be it law-guy Sam Waterston, or price of darkness Ozzy Osbourne jousting with Yusuf Islam aka Cat Stevens. There was a battle between rock anthem “Crazy Train” and Islam’s “Peace Train” ,and the latter was halted by Stephen Colbert because it was sure to be “some international peace train that would need a Europass for boarding. Ozzy Osbourne then did a conductor gig.

The applause and laughs were plentiful, though some may frown on the Chilean miners spoof. Hotting it up were crooner Tony Bennett, Kid Rock, R&B star John Legend and Sheryl Crow.

Sarducci said about Judaism and Islam that the rift between the two religions could be healed if they build on common ground:not eating pork.

The awardees of the “Medal of Reasonableness” doled out Jon Stewart include Detroit Tiger Armando Galarraga who did not bite off the unfair umpire’s head, CNBC’s Velma Hart and Jacob Isom who salvaged a Koran from burning by recuing it from a fanatic pastor.

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