So?

Submitted by Richard Zuma (United States), Aug 5, 2002 at 11:53

If you have to go back 800 years to find a peaceful progressive Islam, might we assume your point is merely academic? You've done excellent work contributing to the understanding of the totalitarian movement, Islamism. The speed with which this movement has spread in the last few decades raises the question concerning the susceptibility of Islam to such intolerance.

While we can formally accept your distinction between Islam and Fundamentalist Islam, is this any different between our forefather's rhetorical distinction between Germany and Nazi Germany or Russia and Soviet Russia? Most people, at the time, drop the modifier without implication. Others like to emphasize the difference of the current state of affairs to these people's history.

The questions remains - is moderate Islam a null set? Are there a significant number? Or are you merely allowing for the theoretical possibility? As you once wrote - it's not for us to define Islam. Let's deal with the current reality.

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