Originally Posted by raytri

So deal with the 1%. Why try to tar the other 99% with the actions of the few? Whatever religion you profess (if you do), do the extremists represent you?

If you admit that 99% of the adherents aren't violent terrorists, it's hard to see how you can plausibly claim the religion is the problem. A 99% success rate is pretty good.

But their numbers are so few that it would take apathy on an epic scale for them to take over. Hitler, Stalin, etc. were at least operating within the cultural structure of their time and place. You're talking about trying to overthrow a millennia old culture and replace it with something alien, imposed from without. It's just not going to happen.

But there's no truly logical reason to tar the entire religion, and it's strategically dumb besides: why pick a fight with 1 billion Muslims when you can deal with a few thousand extremists instead?