from muslimwakeup.com:

Four years ago, while studying French, Italian and women’s studies as an undergraduate at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, I accepted Islam by taking “shahada,” or the declaration of faith, during Ramadan, proclaiming that there is one God and Mohammad was a prophet of God. I had spent three years studying various religions and belief systems before taking this important step in my spiritual journey. I was moved by Sufi poets and the beauty of a faith that allowed for pluralism. I enjoyed the sense of unity that came with performing rituals alongside other Muslims. I was thrilled to discover a belief system that was not at odds with scientific knowledge. The Islam I came to know allowed for diversity in interpretation and encouraged the pursuit of knowledge and critical thinking. I have grown so much in my faith since that time and am proud to call myself Muslim.

Earlier this year, I moved to Atlanta with my husband and was excited to visit the various mosques in the area. I had hoped to find a supportive and open-minded community in which I would feel at home. However, like everywhere else, it seemed the extremists were always the loudest and carried most of the weight. It did not bode well that every mosque I visited practiced strict gender segregation. As a feminist with a minor in women’s studies, I have never found this sort of restriction necessary or beneficial. During a study circle called a ‘halaqa’, at a mosque in north Atlanta I was told music was ‘haram,’ or forbidden. As a fan of bluegrass, classic rock, reggae, hip-hop, jazz, folk, pop, opera and just about any other musical style, I found this edict impossible to swallow.

I was also told that because Arabic is not my native language, I was not qualified to interpret religious text. Finally, on one of the holiest days of the Islamic calendar, Eid al-Fitr, the day celebrating the end of the month-long fast during Ramadan, my good friend, Kelly Wentworth attended the congregational prayer at of one of the largest mosques in Atlanta. The sermon vilified the ‘West.’ The imam, or religious leader, told the congregation that Islam is incompatible with ‘Western’ values, and the ‘West’ is a corruption. My friend returned home that night incensed. After all, she and I are the ‘West’ and were inspired by our ‘Western’ ideas to choose Islam. In all of my studies, Islam was the one faith most compatible with so-called ‘Western’ thought. It is because I live in the ‘West’ that I have the freedom to practice Islam. I do not feel the need to choose between my spiritual path and ‘Western’ values. Both Islam and the ‘West’ are integral parts of who I am. Needless to say, I was disappointed and frustrated.

from banislam.blogspot.com:

1. On unbelievers is the curse of Allah. (The Cow: 161 )

2. Allah is an enemy to unbelievers. ( The Cow: 15 )

3. The worst of beasts in Allah’s sight are the ungrateful, who will not believe. (Spoils of War: 55)

4. Oh ye who believe! the non-Muslims are unclean. (Repentance:17)

5. Oh ye who believe! Murder those of the disbelievers and let them find harshness in you. (Repentance: 123)

6. Oh believers, do not treat your fathers and mothers as your friends, if they prefer unbelief to belief, whosoever of you takes them for friends, they are evil-doers. (Repentance: 20) 7. Humiliate the non-Muslims to such an extent that they surrender and pay tribute. ( Repentance: 29 )

now, for context, read these quotes from the christian bible:

Kill People Who Don’t Listen to Priests

Anyone arrogant enough to reject the verdict of the judge or of the priest who represents the LORD your God must be put to death. Such evil must be purged from Israel. (Deuteronomy 17:12 NLT)

Kill Witches

You should not let a sorceress live. (Exodus 22:17 NAB)

Kill Homosexuals
“If a man lies with a male as with a women, both of them shall be put to death for their abominable deed; they have forfeited their lives.” (Leviticus 20:13 NAB)

Kill Fortunetellers

A man or a woman who acts as a medium or fortuneteller shall be put to death by stoning; they have no one but themselves to blame for their death. (Leviticus 20:27 NAB)

Death for Adultery

If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife, both the man and the woman must be put to death. (Leviticus 20:10 NLT)

Death for Fornication

A priest’s daughter who loses her honor by committing fornication and thereby dishonors her father also, shall be burned to death. (Leviticus 21:9 NAB)

Death to Followers of Other Religions

Whoever sacrifices to any god, except the Lord alone, shall be doomed. (Exodus 22:19 NAB)

Kill Nonbelievers

They entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and soul; and everyone who would not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, was to be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman. (2 Chronicles 15:12-13 NAB)

Kill False Prophets

If a man still prophesies, his parents, father and mother, shall say to him, “You shall not live, because you have spoken a lie in the name of the Lord.” When he prophesies, his parents, father and mother, shall thrust him through. (Zechariah 13:3 NAB)

Kill the Entire Town if One Person Worships Another God

Suppose you hear in one of the towns the LORD your God is giving you that some worthless rabble among you have led their fellow citizens astray by encouraging them to worship foreign gods. In such cases, you must examine the facts carefully. If you find it is true and can prove that such a detestable act has occurred among you, you must attack that town and completely destroy all its inhabitants, as well as all the livestock. Then you must pile all the plunder in the middle of the street and burn it. Put the entire town to the torch as a burnt offering to the LORD your God. That town must remain a ruin forever; it may never be rebuilt. Keep none of the plunder that has been set apart for destruction. Then the LORD will turn from his fierce anger and be merciful to you. He will have compassion on you and make you a great nation, just as he solemnly promised your ancestors. “The LORD your God will be merciful only if you obey him and keep all the commands I am giving you today, doing what is pleasing to him.” (Deuteronomy 13:13-19 NLT)

Kill Followers of Other Religions.

1) If your own full brother, or your son or daughter, or your beloved wife, or you intimate friend, entices you secretly to serve other gods, whom you and your fathers have not known, gods of any other nations, near at hand or far away, from one end of the earth to the other: do not yield to him or listen to him, nor look with pity upon him, to spare or shield him, but kill him. Your hand shall be the first raised to slay him; the rest of the people shall join in with you. You shall stone him to death, because he sought to lead you astray from the Lord, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery. And all Israel, hearing of this, shall fear and never do such evil as this in your midst. (Deuteronomy 13:7-12 NAB)

2) Suppose a man or woman among you, in one of your towns that the LORD your God is giving you, has done evil in the sight of the LORD your God and has violated the covenant by serving other gods or by worshiping the sun, the moon, or any of the forces of heaven, which I have strictly forbidden. When you hear about it, investigate the matter thoroughly. If it is true that this detestable thing has been done in Israel, then that man or woman must be taken to the gates of the town and stoned to death. (Deuteronomy 17:2-5 NLT)

Death for Blasphemy

One day a man who had an Israelite mother and an Egyptian father got into a fight with one of the Israelite men. During the fight, this son of an Israelite woman blasphemed the LORD’s name. So the man was brought to Moses for judgment. His mother’s name was Shelomith. She was the daughter of Dibri of the tribe of Dan. They put the man in custody until the LORD’s will in the matter should become clear. Then the LORD said to Moses, “Take the blasphemer outside the camp, and tell all those who heard him to lay their hands on his head. Then let the entire community stone him to death. Say to the people of Israel: Those who blaspheme God will suffer the consequences of their guilt and be punished. Anyone who blasphemes the LORD’s name must be stoned to death by the whole community of Israel. Any Israelite or foreigner among you who blasphemes the LORD’s name will surely die. (Leviticus 24:10-16 NLT)

Kill False Prophets

1) Suppose there are prophets among you, or those who have dreams about the future, and they promise you signs or miracles, and the predicted signs or miracles take place. If the prophets then say, ‘Come, let us worship the gods of foreign nations,’ do not listen to them. The LORD your God is testing you to see if you love him with all your heart and soul. Serve only the LORD your God and fear him alone. Obey his commands, listen to his voice, and cling to him. The false prophets or dreamers who try to lead you astray must be put to death, for they encourage rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of slavery in the land of Egypt. Since they try to keep you from following the LORD your God, you must execute them to remove the evil from among you. (Deuteronomy 13:1-5 NLT)

2) But any prophet who claims to give a message from another god or who falsely claims to speak for me must die.’ You may wonder, ‘How will we know whether the prophecy is from the LORD or not?’ If the prophet predicts something in the LORD’s name and it does not happen, the LORD did not give the message. That prophet has spoken on his own and need not be feared. (Deuteronomy 18:20-22 NLT)

Infidels and Gays Should Die

So God let them go ahead and do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies. Instead of believing what they knew was the truth about God, they deliberately chose to believe lies. So they worshiped the things God made but not the Creator himself, who is to be praised forever. Amen. That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. And the men, instead of having normal sexual relationships with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men and, as a result, suffered within themselves the penalty they so richly deserved. When they refused to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their evil minds and let them do things that should never be done. Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, fighting, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They are forever inventing new ways of sinning and are disobedient to their parents. They refuse to understand, break their promises, and are heartless and unforgiving. They are fully aware of God’s death penalty for those who do these things, yet they go right ahead and do them anyway. And, worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too. (Romans 1:24-32 NLT)

religioustolerance.org compares christianity and islam:

Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are three closely related religions. Because they all revere Abraham and certain other patriarchs mentioned in the Bible as their spiritual ancestors, they are sometimes called Abrahamic religions. (The Baha’i Faith is sometimes also included in this grouping.) However, their many points of similarity are no guarantee that their followers can get along. Most of the serious religiously motivated conflicts, mass crimes against humanity and genocides in the 20th century have been between Muslims and Christians. This has included genocides in Bosnia Herzegovina, East Timor, and the Sudan, as well as serious conflicts in Cyprus, Kosovo, Macedonia, and the Philippines. As of mid-2007, two of these conflicts (Sudan and Philippines) are still active, and three others are inert only because of peacekeepers on the ground.

it then follows with several side by side comparisons of the two religions, in table format.

islamcity.com provides a more moderate, progressive view of islam:

Does Islam tolerate other beliefs?

The Quran says: God forbids you not, with regards to those who fight you not for [your] faith nor drive you out of your homes, from dealing kindly and justly with them; for God loveth those who are just. (Quran, 60:8)

It is one function of Islamic law to protect the privileged status of minorities, and this is why non-Muslim places of worship have flourished all over the Islamic world. History provides many examples of Muslim tolerance towards other faiths: when the caliph Omar entered Jerusalem in the year 634, Islam granted freedom of worship to all religious communities in the city.

Islamic law also permits non-Muslim minorities to set up their own courts, which implement family laws drawn up by the minorities themselves.

yes, you as well as i see the discrepancy. for some muslims, death to all nonbelievers. for others, everyone’s happy, it’s a world of love, women are treated well, family is most important.

the taliban’s treatment of women:

While in power in Afghanistan, the Taliban became notorious internationally for their treatment of women. Their stated aim was to create “secure environments where the chasteness and dignity of women may once again be sacrosanct.” The way women were treated was reportedly based on Pashtunwali beliefs about living in purdah.

Women were forced to wear the burqa in public, because, according to a Taliban spokesman, “the face of a woman is a source of corruption” for men not related to them. They were not allowed to work. They were not allowed to be educated after the age of eight, and until then were permitted only to study the Qur’an. Women seeking an education were forced to attend underground schools such as the Golden Needle Sewing School, where they and their teachers risked execution if caught. They were not allowed to be treated by male doctors unless accompanied by a male chaperone, which led to illnesses remaining untreated. They faced public flogging and execution for violations of the Taliban’s laws.

wikipedia on women & islam:

So-called honor killings (murders, nearly exclusively of women, of persons who are perceived as having brought dishonor to their families) are often identified with Islam, though they predate the introduction of Islam into Arabia and are non-Quranic.[46] However, honor killings are sanctioned in sharia texts, which have influenced modern penal codes in which honor killing is legal or lightly punished.[46] Many Muslim scholars and commentators say that honor killings are a cultural practice which is neither exclusive to, nor universal within, the Islamic world.[47][48] However, the practice is strongly associated with the Arabic-, Turkish-, and Urdu-speaking parts of the Muslim world, being most common within Muslim communities around the Mediterranean.[citation needed] Furthermore, most cases involving the practice in non-Muslim areas involve people from Muslim-majority countries.[49][50]

The Quran condemns infanticide,[Qur'an 17:31] including female infanticide.[11] Honor killings is haram (forbidden) in Islam, as muslims believe that Allah is the creator and he is responsible for giving life and taking it away.

slamic law is the product of Quranic guidelines, as understood by Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh), as well as of the interpretations derived from the traditions of Muhammad (hadith), which were also selected by a number of historical Islamic scholars.[1] These interpretations and their application were shaped by the historical context of the Muslim world, including its social customs, poverty, and illiteracy.[1] Furthermore, whether or not Muslims tended to follow these rules was dependent on the prevailing culture, which differed between social classes, local conditions, and regions.[citation needed] Quranic reforms, which in many regions improved the position of women relative to their situation prior to Islam, have often been undermined by the reassertion of tribal customs, or the use of such customs under the name of Islamic law. The spirit of the Quranic reforms may also have been modified by historical or cultural interpretations, reaffirming male dominance and perpetuating gender inequality.[citation needed]

To evaluate the effect of Islam on the status of women, many writers have discussed the status of women in pre-Islamic Arabia, and their findings have been mixed.[3] Some writers have argued that gender roles before Islam were relatively egalitarian, drawing on disparate evidence ranging from the marriage of Muhammad’s parents to the worship of female idols at Mecca.[3] Other writers, on the contrary, have argued that women’s status in pre-Islamic Arabia was poor, citing practices of female infanticide, unlimited polygyny, and patrilineal marriage.[3]

Islam changed the structure of Arab society and to a large degree unified the people, reforming and standardizing gender roles throughout the region. According to Islamic scholar William Montgomery Watt, Islam improved the status of women by “instituting rights of property ownership, inheritance, education and divorce.”

i’m seeing a strong correlation between extreme fundamentalist christianity and extreme fundamentalist islam. there are moderate, happy, live and let live christians. there are, though i don’t know any, but from what i’m reading seems to be the case, moderate, happy, live and let live muslism. there are also hateful, intolerant, must kill everyone who’s different and force them to conform christians. (fred phelps anyone? compared to whom even huckabee seems like a moderate.) there are also hateful, intolerant, must kill everyone who’s different and force them to conform muslims. and there seems to be a struggle within islam between the moderates and the extremists.

i remember being a kid, and my mother plunging, in her middle age, back into the old school roman catholicism she’d grown up with, and we, as her kids, got taken along the journey with her. we went to latin masses, wore veils on our heads, got down on our knees to receive communion. my mother and the people we went to rosary groups with together spoke of on how the “moderates” and “progressives” were heretical, they were destroying what was true and right with real catholicism. i remember her going off on the second vatican council, on how the soul of the church got stripped away, now there were women in the church, crucifixes taken down, the apostasy. in all religions there is the struggle between the moderates and the extremists.

the christians had their ways, yes they did. inquisition, crusades, etc, it’s all in the history books. people of militant islam have had their bloody crusades as well. it goes back and forth, and i wish it wasn’t like this. 2 differently skinned people fighting to the death, not even realizing how similar to each other they are. each one claiming to be holier and more blessed by “god” than the other.

if today’s extremist fundamentalist muslims were to have their way, we would return to the dark ages, the inquisition, the crusades. we know this, because extremist christians have shown us the path before. that is the nature of extreme religious fundamentalism wherever it be found. wherever violent, patriarchal religions seize control, intolerance blossoms, and education and learning dies.