The whole "It's just a few bad apples poisoning the bunch" defense doesn't cut it in discussions about religion. The ideologies to which one subscribes will affect their behavior, and when things like violence and poor treatment of women are predicated by such ideologies, you can't just use the extremists as scapegoats. An easy way to show that it is rooted in the ideology and not just those few bad apples is to compare it to other ideologies. No other group marches in the street crying for beheadings when "offensive" cartoons are published. No other group requires women to hide their faces, not receive an education, or basically be slaves to their husbands. If it was just a matter of a few people getting carried away and making the majority look bad, then you would see these behaviors in other groups. I think it would be short-sighted to say that there is nothing wrong with an ideology that produces these unique and immoral behaviors.
So yes, even though most Muslims are good people, the beliefs that a group of people espouse should be scrutinized if they cause people to behave in immoral ways. (And this goes for any religion)
Last edited by Thellian; May 10, 2014 at 02:28 AM.