Rhys666 wrote:
American opinion that Islam = Bad
I believe the opinion is that Islamism = bad, or at least it should be. One that is shared by many in the Islamic world. What you experienced is the fact that people are generally nice.. I have personally known many nice, devout Muslims having grown up in northern England and my first girlfriend was from a lapsed muslim family (I saw here a few years ago and she had taken it up again in a big way). While Islam is used by so many as a tool of war and politics it will remain tarnished, and many modern Islamic movements are regressive from a Muslim perspective - Ataturk's reforms didn't happen in a vacuum, the ottomans had been gradually reforming for most of the 19th century. This struggle is as much within the Islamic world as it is between Islam and the west, it is between modernity and medievalism, but to deny its theological basis is naive.
Ryan
"Michael Moore and Mel Gibson are the same person, except for a few sit-ups. Moore thought his cheesy political blooper reel was going to tell people how to vote. Mel thought that his little gay SM movie about his imaginary friend was going to help him get to heaven." - Penn Jillette