I have looked at the sites and find myself unable to do more than observe. I have taken part in some Christian-Mulsim dialogues, with great enjoyment and profit, but find myself still very much in the learning stage. It is quite clear that a large number of Muslims in the western world, and indeed a large number elsewhere, are able with clarity and coherence to expound a view of Islam in which it is indeed tolerant, non-compulsory, open to people converting to other faiths, etc. It is equally clear that a large number of Muslims all round the world are able with apparent equal clarity and coherence to expound and propagate other interpretations.

I am not a specialist in the Koran, but I have been present when Muslims have debated with one another the texts which seem to go this way and the texts which seem to go that way. I am not in a position to adjudicate as to which is more central to 'genuine' Islam or indeed whether the Koran genuinely admits of different interpretations. I merely note that such differences do seem to exist, and that large swathes of Muslim-dominated territories seem to live by the more hard-line versions, just as other parts (e.g. Qatar, where I took part in a dialogue for a week in 2003) seem to live by the more open versions.

In other words, No Easy Answers. Sound familiar?