Clearly, you don’t understand Islam... or maybe you do from the inside...?
The reason all are tarred with the terrorism tag is three-fold:
1) The basic tenet of Islam is to turn Dar Al-Harb (the world at war) into Dar al-Islam (the world which has submitted). Doesn’t matter if you are an extremist or a “moderate”, this is your goal. You can liken this to a military engagement... the smaller faction of your forces is actually the killing force. The rest are the support. Well, charity is one of the five pillars of the faith. Guess what? Only charity to muslim charities qualifies. These have been shown to overwhelmingly support terrorism. Therefore, “moderates” have the same goals and provide support to those who perpetrate terrorism.
2) There are few, if any, who denounce terrorism against “innocents”. The reason is because they don’t see innocents among the infidels. Again, we are part of the world at war until such time as we submit. Anything goes... including lies to advance your agenda. This is called “Taqqiyah”. Why should anyone accept the word of one for whom lying is religious requirement?
3) Experience. Look at Muslim advancement around the world and you will see the same model repeated. When they are weak, they are “peaceful”. When they gain strength, they exert their influence. More strength and they join the struggle violently. Lather rince repeat.
I have studied the middle east and Islam. I know many Muslims. I would wager you are either one of them practicing Taqqiyah here or you are an appeasing limp-wrist who throws inane challenges at the beliefs of others when lacking his own personal knowledge.
Frankly, the Christian bible and the Jewish Torah also contains some pretty whacky stuff. However, not everyone who calls themselves Jewish or Christian takes it as seriously, otherwise we would still be burning witches, as per Exodus 22:18.
Admittedly, there are a greater proportion of muslims who do take their holy book more seriously, but that doesn’t mean all of them, or even a majority of them do...
[i]I have studied the middle east and Islam. I know many Muslims. I would wager you are either one of them practicing Taqqiyah here or you are an appeasing limp-wrist who throws inane challenges at the beliefs of others when lacking his own personal knowledge.[/i]
I am neither a muslim nor a ‘limp wrist’. I am a strong advocate of a powerful, well-funded military and of using to if neccessary to set an example for others who would dare to challenge us.
However, I like to think I am not a bigot, and I do not advocate wholesale discrimination against muslims just because some of them are terrorists, any more than I would advocate discrimination against men just because some of them are rapists...