My apologies if I've misrepresented you Boazy. I stand corrected.

Islamic fundamentalism attracted a great deal of attention in the West after the Iranian Revolution of 1978-79 - which deposed Iran's ruler, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi (1919-80), and established an Islamic republic - and especially after the September 11 attacks on the United States in 2001 by al-Qaeda, an international Islamist terrorist network.

The spectacular nature of these events have lent plausibility to the common but mistaken belief in the West that Islam and Islamic fundamentalism are closely connected, if not identical. As I've stated in my earlier thread, "Muslims in Australia," in fact, not all Muslims believe that the Qur'an is the literal and inerrant word of God, nor do all of them believe that Islam requires strict conformity to all the religious and moral precepts in the Qur'an.

More important, unlike genuine Islamic fundamentalists, most Muslims are not idealogically committed to the idea of a state and society based on Islamic religious law.

The character of Islamist movements varies greatly throughout the world. Some Islamists resort to terrorism, and some do not.

Among the Islamist movements that have attracted the most attention in the West is the Palestinian movement 'Hamas,' which was founded in 1987. Hamas was created primarily to resist what most Palestinians viewed as the occupation of their land by Israel. There is thus clearly a nationalistic dimension to this movement, though it is also committed to the creation of a strictly Islamic state.

In January 2006 Hamas was the victor by a wide margin in elections to the Palestinian Legislative Council, and it was aksed to form a government. This development led to much speculation among political observers about whether Hamas could evolve into a moderate nonviolent politcal party, as many other terrorist groups have done (e.g. Irgun Zvai Leumi and the Stern Gang in Israel and the Irish Republican Army in Ireland).

Some Muslim leaders as with Catholic, Anglican and Uniting Church leaders have promoted interfaith religious dialogue in order to encourage greater mutual understanding between peoples.

Integration of the Muslim community has been the subject of debate in Australian society. May it continue...

No Vanilla. You don't stand corrected.

Boaz: "So.. I find myself in total agreement with you "93% of Muslims are moderate".... when have I argued against that?"

You're being disingenous. Okay, you don't condemn all muslims. Instead, you play a game of semantics:

http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?discussion=1503#28274

Here you state: "But the point I've also been trying to make..and yes.. ad nauseum, is that the religion itself is evil.. most of its followers are fine."

Allow me to reiterate a certain point: "the religion itself is evil."

Not: "extremist interpretations are evil."

Not: "those who would use it for violence are evil."

Just "Islam is evil."

I for one, think it's how you use a religion that makes it evil or not, but you can't see religion in that way.

So for all your talk that most are moderates, you're still engaged in an ideological war against Islam and regard their faith as evil, whether they're moderate or not in practice. Whether you like to admit it or not, your own Christian fundamentalism has to play a part in your view of religion in general.

PS - what about the other 7%? Did they admit to being fundamentalist soldiers for Allah?

Boaz, I wonder if you would consider the Crusades an extremist act?

Would you consider it extremist when missionaries invaded lands to indoctrinate and force people away from their own important beliefs in ways that would change their culture forever.

It is this arrogance of most religions that presumes ownership of the 'truth'. Everyone else is deluded.

There are extremists in most religions I suspect but most religious people would argue that respect and compassion are paramount. It is man that twists the meaning to suit his/her own purpose or agenda.

Many Muslims and Muslim groups in Australia have been outspoken about their opposition to terrorism.

Does the Bible or the Koran encourage violence to defend their version of God? Maybe someone more learned in the religious texts could answer.

Boazy: "Raising awareness of some of the darker aspects of Islam, and for the record.. MOST Muslims don't have the slightest clue about them"

I suppose like MOST nominal Christians "don't have the slightest clue" about the darker aspects of Christianity, as personified by extremists like Boazy.