[stuartcr]

That is true, which just goes to show, it's the interpretation of the teachings, and the militant fundamentalists, not all the individual Muslims.

[Terriergal]

You can only bend the words so far. Your friends sound like they are in denial of what their religion teaches. They like the comfort of the ritual but they are unwilling to embrace it all... when the religion itself allows for no halfhearted following. And when it plainly teaches that if you leave the religion you should be executed.

[Terriergal]

Should have finished that thought:

When it plainly teaches that if you leave the religion you should be executed, that also makes them uwilling to take a closer look, lest they be compelled to leave.

[Kevin Curry]

That is true, which just goes to show, it's the interpretation of the teachings, and the militant fundamentalists, not all the individual Muslims.

Peaceable Muslims of good faith are peaceable despite their religion. Militant, murderous Muslims are militant and murderous in obedience to their religion. No special "interpreation" is required. The passages in the Koran calling for the deaths of infidels and which dehumunize Jews to the status of pigs and dogs are plain on their face.

Islam is a system of belief intended to inform, mold, inspire, excuse, and reward behavior. The tendency, therefore, will always be toward violence and terror.

There is nothing warm and fuzzy about Islam. We ignore it or pretend it is harmless at our peril.