I want to start by prefacing the fact I am talking about Islam, and not Muslims.
It may seem strange to separate the two, but in reality there is a big separation.
It's easy to find posts and news against muslims anywhere. I feel muslim persecution is completely wrong. These are people too. Quite frankly if you live in North America, the odds of you ever meeting an extremist Muslim who lives in here is minuscule at best. Most muslims are peaceful, loving people. They are just like the Xtians who haven't read the whole bible, or if they have, they've simply glossed over the negative parts of it. Muslims tend to ignore all the calls for the death penalty in the Koran.
This is where the problem begins though. The koran itself, much like the bible is a terrible book which has been sold as the word of god. Had these books simply been sold as literature, there wouldn't be much issue. However, that isn't the case.
So the Koran has 109 verses alone on holy war, what calls for it, ways to conduct it, and so on. It has misogyny, rape, pedophilia, and plenty of reasons to kill. Now for the 99.999% of people who read or are taught from the book, these points mostly go ignored. Just ask a Muslim about one of these verses and most likely the response given begins with a stutter, that stutter indicating they are digging for a way to either justify, or to move past this very glaring issue.
The big issue is that 0.0001% of people take the book literally. I know it seems like a really small percentage, but with the population of Islam over 1.5 Billion people, that begins to cause a problem. Estimates by world wide intelligence agencies approximate the number of religious extremists who identify themselves as a part of one of the many extremists sects to be around 200,000 members. 200,000 out of 1.5 Billion. Very, very small percentage. Certainly this is why it's extremely unfair to judge one good, peace loving Muslim for the crimes of such a minority. So what's the issue?
Look at this from another perspective. I have a new cure all pill. It cures cancer, aids, the common cold, you name it. There may be mild side effect, some people may even become slightly bigoted from it, some a little judgmental, others a little preachy about the pill. However, guaranteed, 1 out of every 7500 people who take the pill will become a murderous lunatic who will kill anyone who doesn't conform to their ideals. So, out of 7500, most would be normal, some will be jerks, some become bigots, but only 1 will go on a rampage. On top of that, these people will seek out one another and form a group who's sole purpose is to eradicate anyone not like them. If this pill were real, would it ever see the light of day at your nearest drug store? Would you risk taking such a pill? That pill is the Koran. Most people are fine, some jerks, but 1 in 7500 become extremists.
For sure the bible has it's fair share of these very issues.
The koran, much like the bible, has built these fail safes into itself as to prevent people from asking questions. Just even thinking of it could be considered a sin and cause for punishment. It has even convinced millions of women that they are not the equals of men and should act accordingly. There is even a verse stating if a woman does not succumb to her husbands desire that she will be cursed that night.
At some point the world has to admit that these teachings are dangerous. There is just too much of a risk for someone to become an extremist when you have so many followers. Imagine if the Pope today came out and stated that Xtians should kill gay people, of course a majority of folks would ignore this command, but what of the bottom 1% of the geniuses who will follow word for word? Is it worth the risk?
Now what's the solution? Well, education would be best, but it's going to take a lot of work by the rest of the world to do so.
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