"a humane, tolerant and progressive faith"

Thus apologizes Ralph Peters, a contributor to today's Washington Post Outlook section. While there is much to commend in this article by Mr. Peters, it is clear that he is infected with some of the same fuzzy thinking that our leaders demonstrate when they proclaim Islam to be "a religion of peace."

The article is definiately worth reading, but one must retain the caveat that this author's ideas are tarnished by his idealized view of Islam. Let's take each point in turn. As for Islam being humane, this certainly appears to be true if and only if sharia, or Islamic law (now used in a few Muslim nations in lieu of separate civil and criminal codes) is not established. The cruel and unusual punishments mandated, e.g. amputation of a hand for theft, stoning to death for adultery, are sufficient witness against Islam having a humane code of law for application in any year past 800 AD. And this is what happens to believers; infidels, as in Christians, Jews, Hindus, whomever is not Muslim, banishment or death are the usual punishments for what would be minor infractions in secular nations.

Tolerant? Well, only if you are considering Islam's approach to Muslims. It is true that all are welcome as equals in Mohammed's tent, so long as they sign up under the Islamic flag. The dark-ages state of Saudi Arabia, where it is not legal to practice any religion except Islam, and where it is not even legal for a Jew to set foot in the country, is sufficient witness to the tolerance of today's purest Islamic society. The "tolerance" exhibited by other, less repressive Islamic nations, is, at best, the kind of tolerance we in the United States once rendered to our black citizens -- a condescending, second-class citizenship at best. Can you spell "dhimmi" boys and girls?

Finally, "progressive". Say what? What have you been smoking, Mr. Peters? Individual Muslims may be progressive; Islamic states, not yet, unless by progressive we mean able to mount serious military challenges to the Holy Roman Empire 900 years ago. When students in purely Islamic schools are taught only the Koran by rote, and when science must first be established as consistent with the Koran, and where women are still in a basic struggle for personhood, it is clear that Islamic societies today are anything but progressive.