An alarming numbers of Muslims support extremism, but most are not terrorists. Does that mean most embrace the tolerant, liberal ideals of the Western world?

Joe Bilello - Fox News
 . . . . . .   The case of “Ahmed’s clock,” the recent comments by Dr. Ben Carson regarding a Muslim in the White House, and the ongoing debate about the Syrian refugee crisis has brought the discussion on Islam back to the forefront of American politics. The left continues to have this incessant desire to coddle and defend anyone they perceive to be the underdog or member of any allegedly oppressed minority group. In regard to Muslims, however, this ardent defense is completely at odds with liberal doctrine, and no one on the left except Bill Maher appears to be aware of this.

Bill Maher seems to understand something that virtually none of his peers on the left understand   . . . . .  As Maher pointed out in a discussion earlier this year about radical Islam, "I'm a liberal in this debate. I'm for free speech. To be a liberal, you have to stand up for liberal principles. It's not my fault that the part of the world that is most against liberal principles is the Muslim part of the world."

The discussion was about the same thing it‘s always about - radical Islam. Maher’s liberal guests argued the same tired and obvious liberal talking points, which is that most Muslims are not terrorists so they must be super awesome people. But Maher’s quote was in reference to the different side of Islam-the non-radical side of Islam. If you don't slaughter a school bus full of children does that mean you are a noble defender of freedom and equality for all? Our vetting process for Muslims and how we gauge their level of decency seems to only involve their attitudes toward extremism. It never seems to question general beliefs towards women, homosexuals, and religious tolerance  . . . .   An extensive 2013 Pew poll found some troubling results regarding both radical and non-radical Islam.

According to Pew, a majority of Muslims in several countries consider stoning a woman to death a legitimate punishment for adultery. But Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton paying their female staffers less than men is a "war on women"? We can all agree that brutal capital punishment for infidelity is a little extreme but on a less extreme side, three quarters or more of Muslims surveyed in 24 of 37 countries where the question was asked believe abortion to be morally wrong. How do liberals feel about that? 

Three quarters or more in 33 of the 36 countries where the question was asked believe homosexuality to be morally wrong. But Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton's anti-gay marriage stance is a "war" against the LGBT community?

The left's well-disciplined inability to condemn anyone who isn't white, Christian, Jewish or a self-avowed political conservative obviously prohibits them from condemning the core beliefs of a majority of the world's Muslims. They will continue to make bizarre claims like all religious fanaticism is equal, using centuries-old examples like the Crusades to prove their point.

Most liberals will never deviate from their talking points. But if a gay man was forced to hold his partner's hand and walk down the streets of either Tehran or Tuscaloosa, which do you think he would choose? If two unhappily married women sought the companionship of another man, who would be more afraid for her well-being - the wife of the Lutheran pastor or the wife of the Imam?

The debate about radical Islam is over. Although alarming numbers of Muslims support extremism, most Muslims are not terrorists and most are not even extreme radicals. But does that mean that most embrace the tolerant, liberal ideals of the Western world?

Source:  Text from the larger article at Fox News.