While my knowledge of Islam is extremely limited this is my understanding of most religions: There seems to be a fundamental core of peace and goodness, regardless of which religion you practice/believe/live by. I honestly couldn't care less what a person's religious beliefs are, as long as they're good people. I just don't understand people's complete lack of tolerance regarding other religions, or the use of religion as an excuse for their behavior - whether that be fundamentalist Christians (often prominent in the southern states of the US) many of whom (notice I did NOT say "all") lean toward "preachiness" for lack of a better term, or the current crop of radical Muslims who seem to have bastardized their religion in the name of their own agenda!
I once worked with a guy who was a born again Christian (his father was an evangelical minister with his own church), but he knew and respected my beliefs. We got along great (common interest in cars) and he never once got preachy with me, never tried to force his belief system on me.
As for Islam specifically, I'm maybe a bit embarassed to say that much of my knowledge comes from what has been said by certain famous people who converted - Muhammad Ali (Cassius Clay), Kareem Abdul Jabbar (Lew Alcindor), Yussef Islam (Cat Stevens) - who all speak of how Islam is a very peaceful religion, with great respect for life and mankind. So if my assumptions and limited understanding are correct, then the aforementioned crop of Islamic terrorists should not be what others use to judge Islam in general. You don't judge all White men by Adolph Hitler, all Black men by Idi Amin, or all Asian men by Mao Tse-tung.
I've tried to word this in such a way as to NOT start a huge debate, and I will not enter into one. Tread lightly when entering discussions on religion or politics!
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