It is a shame we didn’t draw a line as Japan has. Islam will always remain incompatible with western values. It is as much political system as a religion and in any crisis or showdown Muslim allegiance will always be to their God or fellow Muslims and not to any national or political boundary.
If Islam is such a great system why do so many want to get out of those places that follow Islamic laws and custom

"There are violent people who profess every religious tradition, from Buddhism to Christianity and everything in between, as well as violent atheists."

Correct but you miss the point which is within Islam there is a systemic desire to replace secular structures with sharia. The only distinction between the violent Muslims and the peaceful ones is method. This is different from other religions as the surveys above show.

Because the difference is one of method not principle all Muslims must carry responsibility for violence done in the name of Islam. Lea-Henry uses the example of Chomsky to show that all US citizens are responsible for the actions of the US government. This is exactly the wrong example. The US is a democracy where people have a say in the government and its policies; and most importantly where they can and do protest against those policies. There is no such choice in Islam. A better example is the Catholic Church where every member of the church must carry some of the responsibility for the criminal actions and obfuscation of the Catholic clergy.

Lea-Henry says that change must be from within Islam; that renunciation of violence by Islam must be organic and that forced change would be imperialistic. That is nonsense for several reasons.

Firstly there is no sign anywhere from within Islam that Islam’s imperialistic drive towards sharia is abating. In fact that drive to implement sharia is increasing. Many European countries now have no-go areas within their borders where Islam has effectively supplanted secular law. This tendency is already happening within Australia as 60 Minutes’ fact-finding tour in Western Sydney recently revealed. Australia’s proportion of Muslims is 2.2%. This is less than half the proportion in the European countries currently experiencing Islamic violence and aggressive implementation of sharia. Given that of the 18 convictions for terrorism in Australia post 9/11 17 were Muslims there is no reason to suppose the Muslims in Australia are any different from those in Europe and that Australia too will experience an intensification of Muslim demand for sharia as the number of Muslims in Australia increases.

cohenite, that's all irrelevant if you don't answer the simple questions I put in my first post. In all the discussions on this topic, including in the one directly attached to Lea-Henry's article, nobody has tried to answer them, preferring to simply reiterate a bigoted anti-Islamic POV that assumes secularity is inherently better without addressing why. I've been accused of all sorts of calumnies for simply asking that question.

Are people in Islamic countries, on the whole, happier or less happy than those in secular ones with comparable economic conditions? Is social justice better or worse? Are the poor more excluded from social participation or less?

If you can't answer those questions in the negative, then I'm afraid your constant diatribes about Islam are simple bigotry.

Care to have a go, or are you just going to give us another polemic?

@antiseptic

ok point taken as long as he is entitled to make his view

tell me
have you lived in a society/country where muslims >15% of the population?
have you worked overseas in such environment?
if not, can i say you are a fine academic?

there was a study made some time back, i need to dig it up.
on how muslims as a group changes their behaviour as their numbers increases
and finally how they take over the society
do you know this is taught in the koran?
to take over the infidel neighbours if they do not submit to the ways of allah and the teachings of the prophet?

muslims are a perculiar lot
they are very law abiding (not their shariah law) in the place they stay if they are few of them
as their numbers grow, you start to see their true side

a. they demand for rights to pray 5 times a day... at work at public places etc
if you do to give them their prayer rooms...you are a bigot
you are persecuting them

b. they start to demand for their halal laws at public eating places

c. they start to pray in public streets even though it is against the law (see...when they are small in numbers...they are obedient)
go see some scary youtubes on the situation in london and paris
you see what happened in sydney?

d. they start to insist that their women folks cover their faces
i think this is a security problem and i hate going to public places with all the women(not sure if men or women) hood up their face

my point is simple
there should be religious freedom
BUT practise that in your home
in the religious building that are approved under the law of the land

moderate muslims... i am afraid islam is a theocracy as it is more than a faith
it is a political ideology aimed at world dominance.

Belly,
You said, "And yes not all Muslims are radical.
Show me please how to tell the difference".

The answer to that is easy.

The moderate muslim does not have access to explosives-- YET.

platypus 1900,

It's interesting that you should critique prayer and halal preferences.

Aren't you the guy who, regarding your children in another thread, proudly proclaims:

"All of them were caned when they were young.
I discipline them when they are from 2-12 years old
After that, the canes are thrown away.
They are then old enough to reason with."

Yeah, great stuff.