A clear-eyed look at the history of Islam shows that the peaceful side of Islam has never been a predominate characteristic of that culture. That's not to say that someday it may become so. Those apologists who are trying to make the case that Islam is peaceful and can get along with other religions would do better to look to the future. They need to reform Islam starting today and repudiate its aggressive and violent history.

There is a dire need for some courageous, meaningful movement in Islam to emerge that completely renounces the active Islamic institutions of jihad against the infidels, and dhimmitude, openly acknowledging the horrific devastation they have wrought on non-Muslims for well over a millennium, through the present. Nothing short of an Islamic Reformation and Enlightenment may be required, which completely secularizes Islam, and acknowledges non-Muslims as fully equal human beings, not "infidels", or "dhimmis".