Go look at the Pew survey results that break down muslim beliefs in the world. Look at the response to questions like "Should apostasy be punishable by death?" You don't see 1% or 2%. You see 10%, 20%, 30% and higher. That means millions of people.

I don't believe the polls very much -- you can frame questions in certain way and get the answers you want. If you go to freerepublic you see comment signatures like "The only good Muslim is a dead one". I'm pretty sure that if I poll a random 1000 American right now, I could get them to say pretty twisted shit.

"Should apostasy be punishable by death?" You don't see 1% or 2%. You see 10%, 20%, 30% and higher. That means millions of people. The results are similar for other alarming beliefs. Why are you trying to pretend this isn't a problem?

I'm not saying it's not a problem. I'm an ex-Muslim who lived in Pakistan. Trust me, I like the place I'm living in a lot better now than Pakistan, I know how bad things are in Pakistan: very bad. But there is a reason things are bad. Swat valley used to be a beautiful tourist destination 20 years ago that Westerners could visit... it became a stronghold for Taliban. People in Karachi are not happy that there's a bomb every other day. They're going through a lot. The general population (virtually all Muslim) trusts neither its own gov't nor does it trust America. There are things that they are working through... and I think things will get better.

While all of that is happening over there, the response of the West I think is somewhat misguided: if you say Islam is bad and you're bad because you're Muslim, that will just not solve the problem. It's a waste of time to partake in that sort of bickering.