I agree with you on this.
Unfortunately what we are facing is not just a religious divide but a cultural divide that is being driven only in part by the extremists.
Oh, absolutely, don't get me wrong. I consider Islam to be (like all religions) to be a primitive superstition that divides people culturally from the rest of society. It is primitive, medieval, anti-liberal, and the way it treats women is appalling.
But the fact remains that despite all this it is absolutely core to the way of life for billions of people, the overwhelming majority of which have absolutely no interest in slaughtering those of us who don't believe, or even of converting us to their way. They just want to get on with their lives, just like us.
I believe in the power of education and learning, it is this that will gradually bring Muslims into the 21st century, and it won't be achieved if we do what the terrorists want and set Muslims against non-Muslims in some kind of holy war.
