[Vladimir]

Originally Posted by Marlin T

five pillars of Islam? He talks like that is a good thing, ha!

Make sure to read the Koran and what it says about it’s “pillars” (Make to read the footnote at the bottom of the page)
Maybe you could send him this, Jihad, Islamism, and the Challenge of Anti-Freedom Ideologies

Islam is going through the same thing Christianity did, which time-wise might actually be almost identical.

Remember when the Pope authorized killing any infidel during the Crusades? My point isn't to defend the radicals in any way, but to point out that you can take the Bible and totally make it sound evil as well. I mean how many offenses are people supposed to be stoned for?

The fact is very few Christians follow that idea, and relatively few Muslims follow the similar passages of the Koran.

Again, not defending the extremists in any way. But whether we like it or not, at some point we are going to have to live peacefully with these people. Not to mention it is hardly in our interest to make more enemies. We need to be careful (we as in everyone, our country, the world, our politicians, us, etc.) in our attacks. There are more than a few extremists these days who turned against us because they were convinced our war is against Islam- of course it isn't, but for a region that lacks complete and free media, good government, and instead has poverty, and men who are willing to feed you (and then tell you how evil the US is)... well it's a recipe for disaster. When a soldier shoots up the Koran, it hardly means the US is going to war against Islam... but with a little spin how is that going to look to a young Muslim who hasn't had a hot meal in a week (when someone is offering him a hot meal, who happens to provide a lecture on how evil we are)?

What we need to do is turn Muslims against the extremists, plain and simple. It's easy to do, look at the governments of Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq. The problem is these privileged people know the truth, but the guy down the street who hasn't had the hot meal doesn't know the truth... who do you think he is going to listen to? His government? As conservatives we should laugh at that notion, few people are going to go to their government for direction. Again, particularly when there is someone else down the street offering you a hot meal.

What we need to create is a world where any semi-leaning extremist is AFRAID to open his mouth with ANYTHING remotely extremist, for fear of being turned in by other Muslims.