Agreed. Again, I asked the key question in Post #47...can you be a secular muslim and still be a muslim?
The issue is, that if I am a Muslim, and say "I am a Muslim, but I do not believe that Jews or Christians are less worthy of my respect or consideration because they believe in a different God" I may well get along with my fellow moderate Muslims as well as the Christians and Jews I associate with, but...I that makes me an apostate in the eyes of a not insignificant number of Muslims who do not believe that one can take that point of view and be considered a Muslim.
And the problem is...those extreme Muslims, in many parts of the world, control the thought process of the moderate ones who must kowtow to them or die. Anyone who reads this and thinks I am being melodramatic doesn't know what is going on in many places around the world where this is not just an intellectual exercise, but a blood drenched issue with the lives of you, your family and your friends at stake. If you speak out as a genuine voice of moderation...you may be murdered as a result.
In Brigitte Gabriel's book, she talks at length about this to butress her claims. Sure, she says, people in Egypt (for example) HAVE to knuckle under and keep quiet, but what about this country? Her question is: If MY religion was being hijacked by a few bad apples, I would be shouting it to the world...where is the "Million Muslim March" in this country where moderate muslims would make their voices heard on this issue?
Just for the record, for those who have not read her book, she was an Arab Christian (now an American citizen) who lived through the civil war in Lebanon and takes the view that you CANNOT be a muslim and be secular.
Sure. There is no conflict in being an American and a Christian; no point where one would have to make a choice, prioritize. No area where both claim supremacy.