Moderate Muslims

Submitted by Tom (United States), Mar 16, 2006 at 00:40

Not all Muslims are the same, as can be said for any ethnic or social group. I completely agree with the statements here regarding the inherently destructive nature of radical Islam. However, I too have lived many years in Muslim countries....Brunei, Malaysia. In these countries a much more moderate approach is taken by the vast majority of Muslims. Muslims, Chinese, Indian and Westerners all get along quite well in these countries. I know many Muslims who drink alcohol and want nothing more than to be "one of the lads".

My point is that a minority of Muslims are Islamofascist nutters. Just as a minority of white Christians are Nazis, or Blacks members of the Bloods or Crips, or Irish members of the IRA. It is unrealistic for us to expect the silent majority of Muslims to clean up it's "house" anymore than you or I can be expected to stamp out Naziism or violent criminal gangs.

I believe we need to adopt a policy of zero-tolerance for violent elements of all groups. Violent Islamofascists are just the latest group of violent nutters to emerge onto the world scene and need to be stamped out. It's not about religion. Religion is only a pretext for their violence and alienation from society.

---

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".