Moderate Islam?

[HeyItsZeus]

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From the Koran Burning Thread:

Maybe a time will come and most of the muslims will say that quran is not literal Even today there are a lot of apologists. (We call them light muslims in Turkey..)

I've wondered about that and perhaps this should be the topic of a new thread in the Islam section.

When this nut pastor was asked how he would feel if someone burned a Bible, he said he would "pray for them" but that was all. It got me thinking, this is not the reaction you would have gotten from Christians even as lately as 500 years ago.

If you went back to that time and publicly burned a Bible in either Protestant or Catholic territory, I'm guessing you'd soon find yourself chained to a stake in the midst of your own bonfire. The Muslim practice of beheading seems merciful in comparison. We all know Christianity had its cruel and violent past (as the Bible itself is really a cruel book). It's current incarnation is watered down by modernity and science.

Is there any hope that Islam might be similarly domesticated by modernity, as Christianity has been?

My hope is based on history, that there was a time when the situation was reversed. At one time, Christian leaders ruled their world with the same kind of power and held Europe in the Dark Ages. Meanwhile, a more moderate flavor of Islam allowed their world to keep alive the flame of civilization.

The challenge is how this moderate form of Islam can get around their own scripture. Liberal Christians have the "out" of saying "Meh, Jesus died for that" and dismiss the verses they don't like. Even gay-friendly churches are known to do this.

How do they do it in Turkey or how might such an Islam take root in the rest of the Islamic world?

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My dentist is actually a Muslim from Turkey. She is a "light" Muslim. She does not follow the Koran strictly. I would describe it as I would describe the majority of Christians. They worship on holidays and loosely follow their religion and then they don't give a shit for the rest of the time being. Like my family, they still say they believe although they rarely show it.