I’ll try and put this into context.
What Senator Bernardi is responding to is an idea presented in the Australian press that ‘Muslim extremists’ are the source of the threat against us, which implies that the problem is those Muslims who follow an extreme or unusual form of Islam.
He is pointing out that this is not the case. Muslim terrorists are not following an extreme or unusual form of Islam. They are following a form of Islam that is exactly based on what the Koran says. They are doing exactly what their holy book tells them to do. This isn’t an extreme or unusual interpretation - it’s a mainstream interpretation of the Islamic faith.
Not all professed Muslims follow it - but those who don’t are actually the ones who have moved away from the core of their faith. They are the ones who are interpreting the Koran differently from what is literally written. They have accepted there are elements of a book written over 1000 years ago that are not compatible with the modern world and so they have modified their practices.
The fundamental problem is the tenets of the faith itself. For Muslims to live in a modern world, in a civilised culture, they have to reject at least some elements of the Koran.
People need to stop pretending that the ‘extremists’ are in some way an aberration of Islam. They are not - they are simply doing what they believe their faith requires.
That is Bernardi’s point, in my view. Islam, as laid down in the Koran, is the biggest problem that need to be addressed.
Islam have never had a reformation. It’s never had a renaissance.
The Christian world wrestles constantly with the idea of how to live a Christian life in a changing world. Large sections of the Islamic world simply doesn’t want to change.
Some parts of it do better than others - Indonesia, the most populous Islamic nation is actually trying to be a secular democracy and for the most part succeeding. But to do this, it is explicitly having to embrace ideas that are opposed to the Koran - such as including in its constitution, a concept of freedom of religion - a concept that does not exist in the Koran. And even there, they are wrestling with some areas, and some groups, who do not want to change.
I'd say that Senator Bernardi hits the nail on the head. The 'nice' acting Muslims aren't following their book. I'd argue, though, its not that the islamic world needs a Reformation. Far from it - they need to reach the conclusion that the Koran is a book inspired by Satan - and they need to flee from it.
The Christian Reformation occurred because mainstream Christianity was wandering away from the Word of God, the Bible, and were relying on all kinds of man-made traditions and inventions.
The World will be a better place if people recognize the Bible IS the Word of God and seek to live in according to what it tells us. Namely, we are all sinners who deserve damnation in the presence of the Thrice Holy, and perfect Creator God. But the Good News is that God so loved the World that HE gave HIS only Begotten Son that whosoever believeth in HIM should not perish but have everlasting life. Knowing this we should seek to serve Christ as our King (who loved us - for some inexplicable reason - and bore our sins in HIS own body upon the Cross) - and as HE showed compassion on us - even while we were HIS enemies - we should do the same to the lost.
The corollary of an Islamic Reformation would presumably mean that the Muslim would lay aside man's traditions and follow the Koran. This would be a complete disaster as following Satan's book leads to nothing but misery and death for man.