I fully support this woman's right to say what she said and condemn anyone who threatens or harms her. Again, my argument was not that Islam was perfect or that radical Muslims were harmless. My argument was that many (if not most) Muslims, in practice, are not as radical as the fanatics and, regardless of whether it is because of their religion or despite their religion, pose no particular threat to America or Western civilization. If we start persecuting innocent Muslims simply because they are Muslim, then we'll be doing exactly what this woman was able to say that Christians and Jews don't do -- attack innocent people without provokation.
By the way, I've also ordered Oriana Fallaci's two books. The conflict between cultures does interest me and I do think that one is going one. I just don't think the delimiting line is necessarily between Muslim and Christian but between Western civilization and Arab civilization, influenced by but not entirely defined by religion. There are Westernized Muslims. Perhaps they are bad Muslims. I don't really care. If they can live peacefully withing or along side Western civilization, they are not my enemy. Those seeking to destroy Western civilization are. And all Muslims are not seeking to destroy Western civilization any more than the numbers of seeking to destroy Western civilization is confined to Muslims only.
>"If we start persecuting innocent Muslims simply because they are Muslim, then we'll be doing exactly what this woman was able to say that Christians and Jews don't do -- attack innocent people without provokation."<
That's ridiculous. Muslims need to learn to accept honest debate about Islam. The anger with this woman is a prime example. Were the men on the show defending Islam threatened with death?
An honest confrontation about the religion of Islam is not persecution. Muslims also need to be confronted with an honest evaluation of the "prophet" Muhammad. As of yet, that has not been happening.
>"I just don't think the delimiting line is necessarily between Muslim and Christian but between Western civilization and Arab civilization, influenced by but not entirely defined by religion."<
-The largest populations of Muslims are not Arab, anymore.
So the premise that this is an Arab culture clash is false.
There are many radical Muslims who are not Arab.
There are also many Arabs who aren't Muslim.
Of course all the Muslims aren't radical. But around 40% of Muslims polled in England support the imposition of Sharia law.
-That is a very large minority of Muslims who support a form of oppression; the imposition of Islamic law.
Again, an honest look at Muhammad and Islam is not persecution.