What's "Moderate"
Reader comment on item: The Moderation of American Muslims

Submitted by Steven Hess (United States), Apr 8, 2004 at 15:03

What on earth is a "moderate" Muslim anyway? I never heard of a "moderate Christian," a "moderate Jew" or a "moderate Budhist." Are we in essence saying that a "moderate Muslim" is one who is not out to kill you himself but can understand that some of his or her co-religionists do? Let's just continue to delude ourselves that this is not a war of civilizations until the horror of what is happening can no longer be denied. Have we had one day since 9-11 that the word "terror" has not flashed across the TV screen? Are we willing to live like that for the next hundred years, if we last that long? We are at war with radical Islamists but "moderates" don't sound much like allies, much less friends. If we are an "immoral society," why do they not take advantage of the moral purity of Afghanistan rather than put up with the depravity of Detroit?

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