And Slade — as for an “Islamic Renaissance” — sadly we are seeing it in the insidious form of groups like Hamas — Al Qaeda — Jamaat Islamiya — the Taliban. This is your Islamic Reformation — this is Islam getting back to basics. In Christianity, the reformation, getting back to the basics of Christian doctrine largely meant going back to the original words of the four gospels and taking them quite literally. This sometimes resulted in extremely zealous overreach, violence and intolerance, but these can be demonstrably shown to be against Christian doctrine, not mandated by it.

Compare that to Islam, where getting back to basics means emulating the “Prophet” in every way. This includes waging war to spread Islam — beheading enemies and apostates — enslaving — using terror as a weapon of crowd control and to extend Islam’s influence — lying and betraying to gain advantage — and widespread theft — all of it primarily done to extend Islamic influence and to destroy “Islam’s enemies” — the”infidel” world. Understanding this, it should come as no surprise then to see pirates on the high seas taking infidel booty, to see terrorists beheading innocents and launching attacks against restaurants and Jewish centers, widespread deception as to their actions and intent from all Muslim nations and communities, and Jihad in virtually every patch of earth they occupy.