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Below is my little screed comparing Islam to cancer, which I have posted on FR before. Ultimately, radical cures will be needed, or the world will be consumed. The longer it is put off the worse the prognosis, and the more aggressive the cures will need to be.
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First, cancer cells are very similar to our own. You can’t quite say they are not human cells, or “our very own cells.” They spring up from our own cells. They are genetically identical in almost every way.

But they have some odd, usual “thoughts” and “behaviors”. They multiply rapidly. They invade surrounding areas, and spread to distant areas to set up enclaves, pushing aside noncancerous cells and structures.

They use the body’s own mechanisms and resources against it. They insert themselves into key structures and disable or destroy them. They overwhelm the body’s natural defenses and immune system. The body cannot effectively wall them off, keep them in check, change their inherent nature and behavior, or “make peace” with them in any way. Ultimately, left unchecked, the natural history of cancer is to wreck havoc on the body, causing much suffering, and eventually death.

The only known cures are extreme, aggressive, destructive ones - radical cures: surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. There is always collateral damage, death of healthy cells, sometimes removal of entire functional tissues and organs.

But often enough there is improvement, either improved functioning and quality of life, or often a complete cure, which entails permanent and complete removal of all cancer cells from the body. Although not all cancer cells are always invading and destroying vital structures, it is important to aim for complete eradication of all cells as the goal of treatment, or the cancer will return with time.

In its essential points, this analogy seems hard to refute when applied to Islam. I see little reason not to draw the parallels, and I think they point to unfortunate, drastic, but necessary “cures.”