In article
,
Ron Wallenfang wrote:

I don't think we disagree. The "clash of civilizations" has
described much of history since the 7th Century, though I haven't yet
read Huntington's book, and the Koranic verses you cite tell us why.

Only part of the story. All three of the Abrahamaic religions have
strong tendencies to expansionism which has shaped the cultures in which
they are embedded.

But I can dream. After all, much of the Old Testament is hardly more
tolerant; consider, for example the rejection by God of King Saul
because he failed to massacre the inhabitants of the lands he
conquered. But that material remains in the Bible, it is not
normative. As Vatican 2's Constitution on Divine Revelation puts it,
"These [OT] books, though they also contain some things which are
incomplete and temporary, ..........." (Par. 15) And rare indeed is
the Jew who sees accounts like these as models for conduct today.

Or, for that matter, the Jewish scholar who thinks that the material in
the Christian OT can be fruitfully interpreted literally.

I'm not ready to write off the chance for Islam to do likewise.
Which in no way reduces our need to act vigilantly today against
today's radical Jihadists.

Criminals are criminals.

--
"I wear the cheese, it does not wear me."