In case there was any doubt about MY feelings

I've read "Onward Muslim Soldiers" by Robert Spencer. I've also followed closely all the debates between him and his detractors, and one thing about those 'discussions' stands out more than anything is the tactic his opponents use: Never debate the actual points, always attack the person making them. It is the same 'strategy' Muslims make when engaging Ayaan Hirsi-Ali when she exposes Islam's medieval attitude towards women.

It's a tactic born of necessity of course. There's really no actual argument to be made in favor of Islam. I don't want to go into the particular verses of the Koran and the various Hadith (but I will if you challenge me), but quite apart from its intrinsic Jihadist nature the Koran is overwhelmingly mysogynistic. Women are nowhere near equal to men as far as Mohammed was concerned.

I don't blame Mohammed for this (I blame him for lots of things, but not for this). In the 7th century, no one else in the world thought women were equal either, but the rest of humanity has moved on since then. And Islam has not. It has remained a 7th century cult, with a strong longing for paradise through violent death in this life, with utter contempt for non-Muslims, and loathing of women.

The Old Testament is full of statements, stories and directives that in the 21st century are nothing short of outrageous. Mandatory death sentences for just about any offense. The wholesale slaughter of defenseless people. An angry and vengeful God massmurdering human beings because he was offended.

But that book is thousands of years old. Jews and Christians have moved on, and you no longer find people willing to take literally the death penalty for adultery, sodomy, apostasy and the rest of the trespasses God deemed punishable by death. Jews and Christians have evolved into using their Bible as a guidebook, instead of as a lawbook containing literal rules.

Islam has not evolved in a similar way. Its followers still feel that a Muslim cannot convert to another religion. They feel that mistreating the Koran is a capital offense. They feel that women should not vote. They feel that a woman's testimony is half the worth of that of a man in a court of law.
They feel that followers of other religions are mistaken and inferior at best, subjects to conversion, Dhimmitude or death at worst.

They feel that way because Islam prescribes it, and the fact that these are 7th century concepts makes no difference to them, as it does to Jews and Christians. This makes dealing with Muslims on an even footing impossible for all practical purposes. Dialogue between individuals or groups requires at least a shared framework of reference with which both are familiar and at ease. This framework does not exist. Today's Jews and Christians no longer see the Bible as an absolute. Today's Muslims do see the Koran as such. It is to be taken literally.

And this is a problem in two ways. The West is just about incapable of imagining another person taking a book such as the Koran or the Bible literally. We cannot conceive of a human being living his life guided by rules and concepts which to us are insane and ridiculous when taken literally. We see the Bible as analogical at best, and we just naturally assume, no, we KNOW that Muslims must surely feel the same way about their Koran.

But they don't. Muslims really still strife for the world domination of Islam, or at the very least believe it will happen, and that that is as it should be. Muslims really do feel that Judaism and Christianity are corrupted versions of Islam, which is the perfect and final word of God. There may be several ways that the infidels may come to see the truth, but that we will, of that there is no doubt.

Communicating with such people is like talking to cannibals, dressed in your bathing suit. We may all agree that the weather is nice. We all want our children to do well. But all the time, they're looking at us as their next meal. We exist in different planes.

Communication is impossible, and it will be until they revise their view of the world, and the place of their religion and themselves in it.
Problem is, no one in the West has this as a priority. While the Muslim world is rapidly forcing its barbaric, 7th century religion, and the life that goes with it, on us. Until, all our modern technology notwithstanding, we will live for all intents and purposes, under the rule of 7th century barbarians.

To me, Islam is the religion of the Insane.