For some reason the URLs at the end did not print. Here they are again. http://www.class.uidaho.edu/ngier/IslamPage.htm and http://www.class.uidaho.edu/ngier/SecFund.htm

My goodness,

wHAT's up with this hatred against Islam?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIxIk2Wta58

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvHHYrdiXHE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-fDgXzAj_o

Gosh, please don't delete these.

Links fixed.

Its interesting that you would call Hirsi Ali a provocateur. What do you call suicide bombers who scream Allah uh Akbar! just before they commit atrocities? What do you call the idiot zealots who assassinate infidels? Religious zealots are all birds of a feather, ready to kill for their religious beliefs no matter what religion. It would be much better for humanity if children were taught about all religions when young and were able to choose which religion to adopt when they become adults. Unfortunately, most religions rely on brainwashing children to become true believers. Given that there are as many religions as humans can imagine, fighting and killing over imaginary beings seems stupid and self-destructive. Which poses the question, "What kind of God would create such stupid and destructive beings as human beings?"

This woman is a heroe and is under threat of death each and every day of her life; from whom, from the very religion of peace she left because she didn't want to have her female part mutilated and be married off the an older man by her own loved ones, who by the way are the very ones who will commit her murder if they ever get ahold of her. The abuse and violence against women is one and only a small part of the human rights abuses contained in the teachings of islam. islam's hate for each and every human being on the face of this planet is super well documented in the koran, hadith and mohammed's very own examples. We should all praise this women's courage for standing up and speaing out against an ideology that only benefits the imams and it's leaders and allege scholars, everyone else is supposed to fight the good jihad, strap on the bombs and expect their reward in paradise, 72 virgins and all the booze you weren't allowed to partake in here on Earth. You MUST study the koran, it's just so sick and hate filled we would be immediately at war with islam if we all knew the truth of what this ideology wants and demands it's followers to do with and to us.

If you watched the fufu videos the islamic opologist posted up above you must read the truth here to see what islam really teaches:
Quotes from the Koran:
--The unbelievers are your inveterate enemy. (4:101)
-- Surely the vilest of animals in Allah’s sight are those who disbelieve. (8.55)
-- Mohammed is God's apostle. Those who follow him are ruthless to the unbelievers but merciful to one another. (48:29).
-- It is unlawful for a believer to kill another believer, accidents excepted. (4:92)
-- Believers, take neither the Jews nor the Christians for your friends. (5:51)
-- Make war on them until idolatry shall cease and God's religion shall reign supreme. (8:40)
-- Fight against them until idolatry is no more and God's religion reigns supreme. (2:193)
-- The true believers fight for the cause of God, but the infidels fight for the devil. (4:76)
-- We will put terror into the hearts of the unbelievers. (3:151)
-- I shall cast terror into the hearts of the infidels. Strike off their heads, strike off the very tips of their fingers. (8:12)
Quotes from the sayings of mohammed:
Muhammad said to the Jews: "If you embrace Islam, you will be safe. You should know that the earth belongs to Allah and His Apostle, and I want to expel you from this land. “
Sahih Bukhari [4:52:176] Narrated 'Abdullah bin 'Umar:
Allah's Apostle said, "You (i.e. Muslims) will fight with the Jews till some of them will hide behind stones. The stones will (betray them) saying, 'O 'Abdullah (i.e. slave of Allah)! There is a Jew hiding behind me; so kill him.' "
Mohammed said, "I have been ordered to fight with the people till they say, "None has the right to be worshipped but Allah.." (otherwise it will not). Vol. 4:196
Mohammed said, "Whoever changes his Islamic religion, kill him." Vol. 9:57
Mohammed said, " No Muslim should be killed for killing a Kafir" (infidel). Vol. 9:50
Muhammad said:
Fight in the name of Allah and in the way of Allah. Fight against those who disbelieve in Allah. Make a holy war, …(Sahih Muslim 4294)
YUSUF QARADAWI, the spiritual leader of the Muslim brotherhood and the most popular and influential Islamic religious authority in the world today, is on the recommended reading list of local mosques. Among other Islamist-supremacist things, he wrote:
“Islam came to be followed, not to follow; to be dominant, not subordinate."
“Islam came with its complete, comprehensive and eternal sharia (law) for the whole of mankind.”
ABUL MAUDUDI, the most important and popular Islamic writer of the 20th Century, wrote: “The goal of Islam is to rule the entire world and submit all of mankind to the faith of Islam. Any nation or power that gets in the way of that goal, Islam will fight and destroy.”
________________________________________
The statements about Islam above are from the most highly revered and respected Islamic sources, not from "Islamophobes"!

There was a time in History when Islamic scholars led the world in science and mathematics. But that was then. Now, Islam seems to have evolved into a backward religion which practices intolerance,group think and extreme repression. Fatwa's against authors, riots because Mohamed was supposedly defamed, demolishing historic artifacts from previous cultures because they are considered to be heretical, decreeing that women should completely hide themselves to keep men from thinking sexual thoughts, legitimizing the idea that governments should be dictated to by a religious priesthood, and claiming that suicide bombing and terrorism is a legitimate means of warfare sanctioned by God, not a nice track record to say the least. The western world should take notice of Holland's and Britain's mistakes in dealing with militant Islamic immigrants who refuse to assimilate into a culture were individual liberty to criticize priests, religions, governments, and other individuals is the bedrock of western democracy.

This article is a disgrace. Ms Hirsi Ali is a hero.

Shame on the author.

In reading this commentary, I get the strong feeling that Mr. Gier has failed to actually read any of Hirsi Ali's books. Well, have you read any of her books?

There are those who call Hirsi Ali a provocateur. There are those who called Rosa Parks a "provocateur" too. Many called Winston Churchill a "provocateur" for being an early opponent of Adolf Hitler. There are those who called Ghandi a "provocateur". Abraham Lincoln, John Locke, Spartacus, Martin Luther King, John Lennon and Barack Obama have all been called "provocateur" by one narrow minded individual or another over the years. So some people call Hirsi Ali a "provocateur"? That's okay. I know which side I'm on!

Thanks to all who have responded to this column here and elsewhere. It certainly touched a nerve with many readers.

Yes, I have read "Infidel" and I've also read much on the internet and I've watched many of the videos as well. Hirsi Ali is quick on her feet in her debates with Tariq Ramadan, but she was rude in comparing his looks to Osama bin Laden.

Hirsi Ali simply ignored Ramadan's overwhelming evidence for moderate Islam. The embodiment of this movement, consisting of at least 800 million Muslims world-wide, was sitting right in front of her! Ramadan has the credibility to reform Islam, but Hirsi Ali has completely blown any chances of her making her former religion better.

As an example, Ramadan met with 38 Moroccan clerics and convinced them that the Moroccan king was right to abolish the death penalty. Hirsi Ali could have not done that.

You can quote all you want from the Qur'an. Our local preacher cites passages from the Old Testament that support slavery, execution of disobedient children, adulterous women, and homosexuals. He also believes that women should not have the right to vote. I would hazard to say that well over 1 billion Christians strongly disagree with this abuse of scripture. Don't be literalists with regard to scripture like they are!

The Qur'an requires the death penalty, but the even the Moroccan clerics finally realized that they could not enforce religious law in a moderate Muslim country. (Sadly, our good allies the Saudis do.) Morocco is not the only one: Morocco, Turkey, Indonesian, Malaysia, and Indian Muslims add up to over 500 million moderate Muslims, whom Hirsi Ali wants us to believe don't exist!

There are good provocateurs and then there are bad ones. I tend to think that I am one of the former. Gandhi knew some Muslims extremists but he knew that they did not represent the over 100 million moderate Muslims that lived in his great country. (Hirsi Ali knows this, too, but chooses to complete distort the nature of contemporary Islam. Why does she do this?) Recently thousands of them marched in protest against the Mumbai bombers. They wanted the world to know that they do not support this madness.

One reader complained that I did not include Hirsi Ali's sexual mutilation. It was part of the original draft, which was approaching 3,000 words. I deleted it mainly because it is not required by any school of Islam. It is an ancient African culture, a gruesome aspect of top males forever trying to control their females' sexuality. But Hirsi Ali cannot blame Islam for this.

By the way, those martyrs are going to be very disappointed. The jihadists will never tell their recruits, but they will receive 72 "figs" not "virgins" in heaven. It is far funnier than the mistranslation of Isaiah 7:14 that gave us the Virgin Birth. The original Hebrew is "young woman." There is a separate word for "virgin."

Thank you for your reply. It is clear that you are deeply concerned about this issue, and I no longer doubt your intentions.
I think Ms. Ali herself states in her book that mutilation is widespread in Africa, but I think you missed the real point. In countries where Islam is dominant, why is the practice still tolerated? Why wasn't it a priority to abolish over the last 1000 years? Is it because it becomes just one more facet of a system that imposes second class status on women? Can you so easily say that it is not?

Yes, clearly the old Testament is filled with all kinds of rubbish and hateful pronouncements. Our own Constitution apportions representation based on the number of slaves living in the state. But, the larger point is that over time much blood has been spilled to move beyond these mistakes too grow more tolerant as a culture. No, it hasn't been perfect. For each step forward, there has always been some movement back. However, over the past two centuries, there is undeniable improvement. I think that is all that Ms. Ali wants for the Muslim world. Freedom. The freedom to worship, or not, to join other religions, to drive a vehicle, to have courts treat her in the same manner as a man, and to say bad things about the prophet if that is what she decides she wants to do. The people who throw acid in the faces of girls attempting to go to school are the only enemy here. Her larger point is that to move in that direction, in any culture, those that would impose a religion on others must never be allowed to be in charge. In that, she is clearly correct.