re: #59 offendi

Christianity and Judaism have both “matured” if you will through their respective reformations, and so have relegated the most violent tendencies to the fringes, that were more prevalent in earlier times. In a manner of speaking, they’ve evolved because of the advances brought about by the enlightenment and the scientific discoveries that it brought. Modern Christianity and modern Judaism have learned how to get along with the modern world and the sciences that come with it. Islam, which had its own heyday during the medieval period (we get a lot of our math from them), nonetheless has not had its own “reformation” that has become mainstream in Islamic teaching. There are Muslim teachers out there who advocate a rapprochment with the modern world, whether democracy or science, but these have not become the dominant voice, thus they haven’t become authoritative. Hopefully, there will emerge a school of Islamic thought that can gain support among not just the public, but key religious leaders. In the mean time, as others have so capably said already, defeating Islamist extremism does not mean we have to give in to fascist extremism. One evil is not the answer to another evil. Good is the answer to evil. And practicing tolerance while protecting the public will do more to advance our interests than becoming a mirror image of our enemy.