Can Islam change?

"There are a lot of things common to the average Westerner which would be 'surprising information' to Islamic countries... like the use of toilet paper"

Are you sure about the toilet paper?....I thought they had Frenchmen to lick their butts.

"I'm certainly not willing to "kill them all." Are you?"

Well, 10% of the 1.5 billion Muslims IDENTIFY themselves as Islamists. The remaining 90% are their support group. So at a minimum, 150 million will need to be killed. The problem with a cancer like Islam is that it will grow back if you don't eliminate the source: ISLAM ITSELF!

Let hyperbole reign!

Knock it off the personal attacks!

Drive on Chief, I know you earned your pay.

"Until then, regardless of how large or small it's terrorist arm is considered to be, it is a dead issue."

That's too simplistic. That's like saying until no one who identifies themselves as a Christian opposed abortion then all Christians are heathen.

The dead issue has more to do with the Muslims who claim to be peaceful yet support this terrorism. There is a need for the Muslims to come out and disavow (this is starting with small groups) the terrorism, because it has struck at us in alarming, deadly ways, and many have openly supported it. It may not even seem rational that peaceful people should have to prove they don't support terrorism, yet we're all only human, and the terrorists pride themselves with hiding among us and to add insult to injury, 'regular' people come out in support of them. It makes for a scary new reality. It's a dead issue at this point because until these kinds of 'supporters' or the silent, stunned faithful can disavow or divorce themselves from those terror minded Islamists who use Islam as a tool to spread terror and nothing else, it will be hard to move on. This is what makes it difficult for so many to move on or trust that the average Muslim is not a terrorist. And terrorists are getting bolder and the attacks more deadly - this continues to endanger us all and our way of life. It makes it very difficult to distinguish those who are devout from those who wish to surprise us with death and devastation.

My point is that at this time forces within Islam who support terrorism see terrorism as the only way to make and keep the 'gains' they think they need for their version of world 'domination' as professed on their own sites. (searching) The radical branch doesn't see any need to change that and is often threatening or hostile, using the Koran as a purported support for this, toward those Muslims who disagree with them. I'm not sure if Islam always had this kind of terroristic arm - which is the negative change that preceeded all of todays Islamo-terrorists - or if it is a fruit of Wahhabism.

But the real change, it seems to me, is not for Islam to change again, but to divorce itself from this radical sect that is more about terror than about anything religious. And it gains support from those non-muslims who 'sympathize' with the terrorists plight, knowingly or unknowingly these would-be supporters tacitly approve of the terrorism. If it's true that Islam is a religion of peace (and some would disagree, but I believe there are peaceful followers), it needs to excise this tumor of terrorism from itself, get back to it's basics of faith and diversity of faith, and mend it's many wounded friendships. It needs to stop looking like it supports terrorists. It shouldn't have to, but considering 9-11 and Beslan and so many others, for the time being, it does.

Change...phooey... When pigs can fly.