[Storm Orphan]

I'll say a prayer for your conversion ;)

I appreciate the thought.

But judging Islam by how it is practiced in these modern theocracies is like
judging Christianity by the Inquisition.

The question is not "How is Islam Often Practiced Today?" but simply "What is Islam?"

[abolitionist]

Another who judges a book by its cover. You haven't read it, have you?

No sect of Islam uses the Koran in the vernacular, so unless you are fluent in Arabic, you or I haven't truly read it either. I found it to be a rambling, non-chronological mixture of fantasy and dictate. Unless we can agree on a reading comprehension test, let's skip poll test and let everyone vote.

But judging Islam by how it is practiced in these modern theocracies is like judging Christianity by the Inquisition.

The question is not "How is Islam Often Practiced Today?" but simply "What is Islam?"

The question of "what is Islam" in the present tense can only be answered by looking at it as exists today with an eye to the history. There aren't many Islamic states today in the middle ground between secular dictatorship and theocracy so take your pick. This article's description is among the most objective I've read.

[FITZ]

But judging Islam by how it is practiced in these modern theocracies is like judging Christianity by the Inquisition.

Inquisition. That's interesting because the Spanish were the Inquisition people, it's something they actually learned from the Islamics who had overrun Spain for many years. After a long and difficult struggle, they freed Spain from Islam but the Inquisition was directly an influence they had from the Moors.