Gert Wilders said:

"There is only one Islam and that is the Islam from the Koran, the holy book. That is the Islam from Mohammed. There are no two sorts of Islam.

However, there are moderate and non-moderate Muslims, I acknowledge that. As a matter of fact the majority of the Muslims living in our society are moderate people. But don’t make the mistake that even though there are moderate and radical Muslims that there is a moderate or a radical Islam."

Is Wilders right; can you be moderate in an immoderate religion

We never stop talking about this subject.
Our longest thread in the sites history came after the Sydney riot.
And yes not all Muslims are radical.
Show me please how to tell the difference.
Show me a good reason for that riot.
And the actions and signs seen there.
Tell me again of the shameful Aussies.
Who bought about the Conulla riot.
But too hide duck and weave around the years of insults and verbal threats to users of that beach, from the nice Muslim men, who both claimed the beach was theirs and bought about the whole thing.
Do not talk of the RSL flag being stolen or innocents bashed and stabbed that night.
Do not look at the Sydney school home page that both burns our flag and tells us we are skippys.
It is easier to call us bigots and sideline us that to confront the truth.
You can not mix water and oil.
If we must then name Australians include the millions who had parents from the country,s our wishes do not matter and remind us the others constant wish to not live with us but impose another culture?
Just remind me who are the bigots.

In a recent article on Islam and whether violence committed by Muslims was properly recognised by the West as the acts of genuine Muslims Jed Lea-Henry says:

Of course, the majority of Muslims are peaceful individuals.

This is true; not all Muslims living within the West or in Islamic nations are active Jihadists either participating in wars or committing acts of violence. But this inaction does not mean the majority of Muslims are ‘moderate’.

What is a ‘moderate’ Muslim? To answer that question one first has to look at how Muslims regard their faith. In 2008 professor Riaz Hassan published his research on being a Muslim in his book, Inside Muslim Minds. Riaz interviewed 6400 Muslims from 7 Muslim countries and found that nearly all of them agreed strongly with the proposition that Muslim societies must be based on the Koran and sharia law.

Sharia law means there is no separation between church and state. Sharia law means the Koran is the ultimate source of legal authority not the secular parliaments of the Western nations where growing populations of Muslims are living.

What does the Koran offer and do Muslims support the laws prescribed by the Koran? There has been considerable research on this topic. In 2011 the British research company, Ipsos MORI interviewed Muslims in a number of countries and compared their response with the answers from members of other religions. They found Muslims were much more likely to think their faith important and to not want their faith separated from the legal and political system

The results found by Ipsos MORI were confirmed by Pew Research. Pew also found that large majorities of Muslims endorsed the harsh edicts of the Koran such as stoning for adultery, death for apostasy and amputations. Turkey and Lebanon and to a lesser extent Indonesia were the only Muslim nations which had a majority of citizens against these laws.

The plain conclusion from these enquiries is that Muslims endorse their faith, their faith includes harsh laws and that they think their faith should dominate secular legal and political systems.

To quote Abu Imam in Belgium, (well,sort off) "There ain't no such animal as a Moderate Muslim & never will be."

Belly: And yes not all Muslims are radical.
cohenite: Of course, the majority of Muslims are peaceful individuals.

Unfortunately it's whenever there are, "three or more together, gathered in his name" they become a mob. That when they become radical.

No Muslim will EVER accept Secular Laws over Sharia Law, EVER.

show me one moderate muslim, and i will show you how he will change overnight when others defame or profane on issues relating to Allah or Mohammed

i have seen this personally and far too many times

i am wary of them, like Japan

do you folks know for a fact that Japan is the only nation that has a non-muslim migration policy?

cohenite, surely all the religions think the same way? Our system is derived from Canon Law, for example. The Indian model incorporates some of that, as well as some Hindu tenets. Pakistan does the same, but with Islamic principles instead of Hindu.

Sharia derives from the same basic religious Canon, it just emphasises different things through the local lens that was applied by Mohammed. Some of the later divisions (Sunni/Shia/Wahabi/Alawite) are essentially doctrinal schisms based on earlier power dynamics not unlike those within the Christian Church (Orthodox/Catholic/Protestant - Lutheran/Calvinist/Methodist/Anglican, etc).

Are Muslims, on the whole, as happy, happier, or less happy than Christians? Surely that has to be the real test of a cultural model?

One possible measure is crime rates. How do they compare in countries that have a Judaeo-Christian system of laws compared to an Islamic one that are otherwise economically comparable?

Another one might be suicide or depression rates. Another might be family breakdown. Another might be the way that society deals with the very poorest members, not just materially, but in the way they are perceived by the rest.

Any thoughts?

Jayb, you don't sound too moderate yourself, with all due respect.