"xenophobic right-wingers"
Why is it necessary to resort to insult against an opposing view?
I speak with a certain authority. In 2003-04 I was surrounded by an entire nation of moderate Muslims when I was deployed to Uzbekistan. And if you wanted to see an Uzbek's eyes light up with a smile to match, greet him/her with "Salaam Aleikum". But they tended to honor Sharia rules in the breach; the men like their vodka and the women (the young beautiful ones) like their lowcut jeans. And both are scared to death of Taleban-style Wahhabism imported from Afghanistan.
But moderate Islam in Uzbekistan is an entire branch in itself: Sufism, which does not reject the spirituality of other faiths. Uzbeks proudly claim that Jews and Christians have lived in Uzbekistan for centuries due to
Sufi tolerance. How true this is, I don't know.
But inside the U.S., so-called moderate Muslims are mostly Sunni or Shia adherents; they are moderate to the degree to which they disregard Sharia and say (I've heard this), "When in Rome, do as the Romans do".
Rebut my point or anyone else's, but maybe without the namecalling?
I wasn't insulting an opposing viewpoint - if one has taken a serious look at the different branches, as you have , and would like to argue that Islam is incompatible with other religions/peaceful society, then fine. I will disagree, and will gladly debate the points, but I will respect your position.
When I talked about "xenophobic right-wingers," and about how I don't like sharing the label "conservative" with such people, I wasn't talking about people who have considered the issue thoughtfully, I was talking about the bumper-sticker types, whose analysis of Islam is limited to one-liners demonstrating no thought or insight about the issues.
Regarding your argument about Sunnis and Shiites in the US, rather than the Sufism you encountered in Uzbekistan, I think it's a fair point...to an extent. I would point out that even within Sunni and Shiite Islam, there are different branches, some of which are more permissive than others (and most of which are nowhere near as extreme as the Wahabbi sect of Sunni Islam).
So, while some of the "moderation" found in Muslims may be a "When in Rome..." type of thing (and what's so wrong about that, anyway? isn't assimilation a good thing?), I'm not so sure that it's not compatible with Islam itself - under various schools of Islamic thought, it may very well be entirely possible to be a good Muslim and a good American at the same time.