Plenty of Americans- many of whom are anything but ignorant of the scriptures
of their traditions-are liberal Christians or liberal Jews, so it's not hard to find
defense of the liberal versions of those faiths. But the idea that there is no authentic
liberal Islam is fairly widespread in this country.
As a result, while almost everyone acknowledge that some Christians or Jews take their
religiosity to crazy extremes, craziness and extremism are often attributed to islam itself.
Liberal reform of Islam is something Americans simultaneously wish for and claim is
impossible, because lets face it the heart of Islam is necessarily violent and intolerant.