Point of clarification and it's an important one:
I listened to a radio show out of the Bay Area (KGO) today and they had on the air for 2 hours a noted Muslim scholar...i.e an expert on the faith and the Quran.
He emphatically said (over and over, essentially) all these terrorists are NOT practicing the principles of Muslim as written in the Quran and as observed by real Muslims worldwide. The Quran is very clear on killing: killing one innocent person is the same as killing all people and it is not allowed--it is absolutely forbidden. It is an abomination, a sin.
He and other Muslim leaders have spoken out against every one of these terrorist acts. These terrorists may think and call themselves 'Muslims,' but what they are practicing and what they are doing is not the Muslim religion. Let me repeat for the hard of understanding: this is not about the religion, this is about a bunch of goons/monsters who are using the name of this religion but are not really practicing it. Even Obama pointed this out in his speech, btw.
This expert also mentioned a download to a free copy of the Quran since people were asking to look things up.
There are many parts of the Quran that are violent and invite jihad. To balance that statement there are many parts of the Bible that are violent. Difference is, thankfully there are few Christians who don't pick/choose what parts of the Bible they wish to embrace. Not too many use the eye for an eye motto anymore. And for moderate Muslims they too embrace the more peaceful passages from their Quran. But, for those radicalized members they find the worst possible passages to follow, and they follow them to a T.
After 9/11 I found myself strongly arguing on the side of moderate Muslims, often my opinion was a minority opinion. I find it more and more difficult to speak so strongly right now. I'm watching, and frankly reeling at where our easy access into Canada/US has got us. Yes, I know about the home growns. That is not what I am talking about. I'm talking about a culture so very different than ours that is being shoved into the daily lives of Europeans. We are not that far behind if we don't stop and think.
And everybody has heard this before, but I think it bears repeating at this point in time...you know that if you and your family moved to the middle east and started demanding that they turn their world around to accommodate you and your western ways you'd end up in serious legal trouble. If saying that is not pc, I really don't care about that anymore.