An Atheist Muslim's Perspective on the 'Root Causes' of Islamist Jihadism...

[muxin]

93. I think I already explained that in my first post - #14

He stated that "extremism is an informed, steadfast adherence to the fundamentals" (of an ideology), then he stated "In a true religion of peace, the "extremists" would be nonviolent pacifists to an extreme degree, not the opposite."

I don't know how you see that part but the way I see it he stated that if it's really a religion of peace then the extremists of its teachings should be non violent pacifists, but since the ones who get the "extremists" label are those who commit violent acts, then it must not be a religion of peace, because - back to his first statement - the extremists are the people who are most loyal to the teachings. So actually he implied that extremism always represents an ideology or a religious belief at its best without considering their understanding of the teaching in the first place. Many people gave the label "extremists" to those violent individuals not because they think these people represent the best practice of the religion, but simply because they are violent, because the word "extremist" itself has a negative connotation.

I think he got confused with the term "extremism", and sadly to me it looks like he wrote the whole article based on that logic.

Other than that I guess there's no doubt that we agree there are some believers who choose to be violent and there are others who live peacefully.