Rant: Radical Islam and the American Left

A VERY RARE political post but I need to get this off my chest:

As a disclaimer, I condemn anti-Muslim bigotry in the name of anti-terrorism whether it be in the form of words or actions.  I believe in treating all people with respect and civility.  Have I ever met any Muslims myself?  Yes.  One of my all time favorite teachers was an Econ professor from Iran who is a moderate Muslim. I've also had some contact with a few Muslim business owners at work and never had a problem with any of them.  In my years as a student, I got to know several people who are either from the Middle East or of Middle Eastern descent and got along well with almost all of them.

Defenders of Islam will say things to the effect of "there is nothing Islamic about terrorism" and so-called Christians have been guilty of terrorist attacks as well.  While it is true that only an infinitesimal  percentage of Muslims will actually carry out terrorist attacks, a fairly significant minority support indiscriminate acts of violence against civilians to "defend Islam":  http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/pages/opinion-polls.htm  If you were to ask these terrorists what they are fighting for, they will no doubt say "Islam" and often cry out Allahu Ackbar before the attack.

If you were to poll Catholics, Evangelicals and Mainline Protestants, you will likely find that 99.9 percent of people in each group strongly reject violence against civilians in all circumstances to "defend Christianity." With Muslims, that number is only about 85 percent.  I heard of a poll that stated that 8% of Muslims believed the 9/11 attacks to be "fully justified" and a similar percentage saw at least "some justification"  That means that if the United States is to take in 10,000 Muslim refugees, about 1,500 are expected to have at least some sympathy for terrorism. At the very least, we must be EXTREMELY careful about the vetting process and I'm not sure if there is a truly bulletproof system to assess a threat.  As an aside, neither Tim McVeigh nor Eric Rudolf identified as Christian and you never hear anyone proclaim that "Jesus is King" before committing a mass murder.

I heard well-meaning Christians point to Scriptures such as "love your enemy" and "pray for those who persecute you."  In my opinion, this does not apply to terrorists.  If you have even one ounce of sympathy for indiscriminate killing, here's what I think about you:
-you are not a personal enemy who hurt me with words or actions
-you are not a persecutor who mistreated me because of my Christianity
-you are not a political enemy or even merely an enemy of America
-YOU ARE AN ENEMY OF HUMANITY ITSELF!
Should we pray for their conversion or at least for them to renounce terrorism?  Absolutely.  However, until that does happen, we have no choice other than to fight them.

In Western democracies, you will find near universal support for the following statements:
-Stoning of gays and adulterers to death is barbaric
-Imposing the death penalty for apostasy is barbaric
-Cutting off a child's hand for petty theft is barbaric
While the teaching of Jesus is to go and sin no more, you will find broad support for such savage punishments in the Muslim world and they are often sanctioned by the government as part of Sharia law.  A recent poll showed that roughly half of American Muslims support being given the choice to be governed by Sharia law and may not call these acts "barbaric" when challenged.  I also believe that while radical Islamists certainly do not like America's foreign policy or support for Israel, at the end of the day, their beef with us is because we are infidels.

Life in the Muslim world under Sharia law the way I see it:
-no women's rights
-no freedom of speech to criticize the government
-no tolerance for different lifestyles
-no freedom of religion or freedom from religion
-extremely regressive social policy
In other words, it is everything that the American left detests yet polls show that liberals are much more likely than conservatives to have a favorable view of Islam.  If you are a liberal and are reading this, explain your justification.  I'd sincerely like to know.

My theory is that supporting Islam is merely part of the promotion of multiculturalism. Liberals are willing to align themselves with any ideology that will diminish the influence of the so-called "Christian Right."  Some are merely naive about the threat of terrorism and are ignorant about the extent of the regressive ideology.  Some of those types might change their mind if they saw some of the polls that I have while others will refuse to believe it or dismiss the threat because of the small numbers.

I expect that I will see lots of views and comments about this post but please remember again that I have NO problem with any race or ethnicity.  My beef is only with an ideology.